Blue Jays 5, Reds 1: Scherzer's 114 Pitches, 225th Win

Seven innings, 114 pitches, and a manager who already knew the answer

September 27, 2026 - Toronto - John Schneider walked toward the mound in the seventh with Max Scherzer at 104 pitches. The crowd booed the manager the way it always does when this happens. Scherzer sent him back. One more batter. Then he finished the inning anyway. The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-1 at Rogers Centre, and the 42-year-old right-hander had his 225th career win.

Sunny. 76 degrees. Wind 15 mph in from center. First pitch 3:07 p.m. Attendance 42,131. The game lasted 2 hours, 30 minutes. Scherzer threw 114 pitches, 77 strikes, over seven innings: six hits, one earned, one walk, seven strikeouts. The MLB recap said he is the oldest Blue Jays pitcher to throw more than 100 pitches since pitch counts were tracked in 1988. He was pitching on short rest.

"I felt like I was unlimited," Scherzer said, per MLB.com.

Toronto finished 79-83. Cincinnati finished 75-87. Nobody was playing for October. Everybody in the building was playing for the version of Scherzer that still argues his way through a seventh inning.

Valenzuela in the second, McAdoo in the eighth

Brandon Williamson (the loss, 5-5) lasted three innings: four hits, four earned, three walks, three strikeouts, 76 pitches. Brandon Valenzuela homered to center in the second, his 9th, Davis Schneider scoring. 2-0.

Carlos Jorge singled Oswaldo Cabrera home in the third. 2-1. That was Cincinnati's only run. Charles McAdoo lifted a sacrifice fly, Sean Keys scoring. Davis Schneider grounded out, Brett Bateman scoring. 4-1. McAdoo homered to center in the eighth, his 3rd. 5-1.

Valenzuela went 1-for-2 with the homer and two RBI. McAdoo went 1-for-3 with a homer, a sacrifice fly, and two RBI. Bateman went 2-for-4. Cabrera went 2-for-2 with a double. Jorge went 2-for-4. JJ Bleday had two hits, including a double. Cincinnati had seven hits and left five on.

Scherzer faced 27 batters. He did not allow a homer. Mason Fluharty (hold 20) threw a clean eighth on seven pitches. Paul Sewald threw the ninth. Zach McCambley threw two scoreless for Cincinnati after Williamson. Luis Mey and Carson Spiers covered the rest.

The last stubborn start of a Blue Jays year

Schneider had told Scherzer before the game that he wanted to take him out in the middle of an inning so the crowd could stand him up. "The first one, I asked him how he felt and he said, 'Great,'" Schneider said, per MLB.com. "I told him that if I gave him another batter and he gets him, he'd have to go back out. He said, 'I know, and that's what I'm doing.' I thought, okey dokey, and I turned around."

When Schneider finally got him, the conversation was the kind that belongs on a wall. "I told Max on the mound when he was coming out, 'Thank you for letting me be part of your unbelievable career,'" Schneider said, per MLB.com, "'and I wouldn't want any other 42-year-old psychopath on my team other than you.'"

"Being a Blue Jay here, it's been great," Scherzer said, per MLB.com. "I had so much fun. I tell everybody across the league how much this is a hidden gem, playing for the Blue Jays. You don't know until you experience it."

He finished three strikeouts shy of tying Justin Verlander for eighth on the all-time strikeout list. The MLB recap treated that as a 2027 errand. Maybe it is. Sunday was seven innings, one run, and a packed Rogers Centre telling a manager to sit down. The Blue Jays did not make the playoffs. They still got the start worth keeping.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Toronto at 12 team fantasy points. Scherzer had 23 pitching FP, first among arms on a 15-game Sunday. Valenzuela and McAdoo each had 7 hitting FP.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; AthX Engine daily scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*