Baseball Report: Max Scherzer’s Continued Dominance Helps Dodgers Keep Pace

(CBS Los Angeles) — The regular play is winding down, and the playoff contention is heating up. As of Monday, the National League West and the American League East would each nonstop 3 teams. The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers would beryllium 2 of them retired west, followed by the San Diego Padres, if they tin clasp onto their slim lead.

Four teams person a morganatic changeable astatine the playoffs retired of the AL East. The Tampa Bay Rays clasp a nine-game pb successful the part race. But the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and New York Yankees each beryllium wrong a crippled of each other. How it volition play retired is anyone’s guess.

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This week’s Baseball Report looks astatine 3 stories playing retired against the backdrop of the playoff races. The archetypal is Max Scherzer’s continued dominance, arsenic the caller Dodger threw his 3,000th strikeout. The 2nd is Francisco Lindor’s three-home tally crippled to assistance the New York Mets implicit the New York Yankees. The 3rd is the Toronto Blue Jays’ outpouring of runs astatine the disbursal of the hapless Baltimore Orioles.

Scherzer Throws 3,000th Strikeout

Scherzer has reached yet different milestone successful his Hall of Fame career. The 37-year-old right-handed pitcher threw his 3,000th strikeout successful the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 8-0 triumph Sunday implicit the San Diego Padres. He reached the milestone successful the 5th inning, mounting down Eric Hosmer connected a 3-2 pitch. Scherzer became the 19th pitcher successful MLB past to flip astatine slightest 3,000 strikeouts successful his career.

The three-time Cy Young Award victor had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning, until Hosmer broke it up with a one-out double. That would beryllium the lone deed helium allowed. Scherzer threw 92 pitches, signaling nary walks and 9 strikeouts connected the afternoon. Three of those came successful the 2nd inning, erstwhile helium struck retired the broadside connected 9 pitches for an immaculate inning.

Scherzer is 6-0 with the Dodgers aft coming implicit from the Washington Nationals astatine the commercialized deadline. He had a 1.05 ERA with the squad going into the game, and has a 2.26 ERA successful his 26 starts this play crossed the 2 teams.

Scherzer made his major-league debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks successful 2008. The 11th-overall prime 2 years anterior was traded to the Detroit Tigers aft 2 seasons and 240 strikeouts. He played 5 seasons with the Tigers, piling up 1,081 strikeouts and earning his archetypal Cy Young Award for his efforts. Scherzer was traded to the Nationals successful 2015, wherever helium struck retired 1,610 much batters, won a World Series and 2 much Cy Young Awards. In Washington, helium led the majors successful strikeouts for 3 consecutive years. Scherzer has exceeded 200 strikeouts each play since 2012, but for the shortened 2020 season.

Scherzer is the archetypal pitcher to scope 3,000 strikeouts since 2019, erstwhile Justin Verlander accomplished the feat. It’s intolerable to foretell erstwhile the adjacent pitcher volition articulation the 3,000 club. Starting pitchers are throwing less innings, but pitchers, successful general, are signaling much strikeouts. Houston Astros’ Zack Greinke is the closest progressive pitcher. He presently has 2,799 strikeouts.

Lindor Blasts Three Home Runs

The Mets and Yankees are inactive successful the playoff hunt. The Mets wounded their chances with a miserable August that saw them driblet from archetypal to 3rd successful the NL East. They present beryllium 5 games retired of the part pb and 3 games retired of a Wild Card spot. The Yankees person gone acold of precocious too, losing 8 of their past 10. That includes a four-game expanse astatine the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. They present beryllium 10 games backmost successful 4th successful the AL East but lone 1 crippled retired successful the Wild Card race.

This weekend’s subway series astatine Citi Field was an accidental for 1 of these teams to perchance summation a small ground. With lone a fewer weeks left, chances are becoming less and fewer. The teams divided the archetypal 2 matchups. The Mets downed the Yankees 10-3 Friday, and the Yankees returned the favour 8-7 connected Saturday.

Things got a small chippy connected Sunday nighttime successful the series rubber match. The Mets already harbored immoderate atrocious feelings based connected suspicions that the Yankees had been whistling from the dugout to awesome pitches successful the erstwhile game. After his 2nd location tally successful the sixth inning , Lindor, who besides deed a three-run changeable successful the second, referenced that suspicion to Yankees players arsenic helium rounded the bases. The Yankees didn’t similar that.

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Giancarlo Stanton fto his feelings beryllium known portion moving the bases aft his solo changeable the adjacent inning. He really slowed to a locomotion betwixt 2nd and 3rd basal to jaw with Lindor. The benches cleared, and the bullpens emptied. But it didn’t magnitude to anymore than talk.

The fireworks weren’t over. In the eighth inning, with the people tied astatine six runs apiece, Lindor deed his 3rd location tally of the game. That ended up being the borderline of victory.

THREE HOMERS FOR FRANCISCO. 😱 pic.twitter.com/D4iO3ClKOV

— MLB (@MLB) September 13, 2021

Stanton had a accidental to adjacent up the crippled oregon instrumentality the pb successful the ninth inning. He stepped to the sheet with 2 men connected and 2 outs, but past popped up to extremity the game.

Blue Jays Score 44 Runs On Orioles

The red-hot Blue Jays present inhabit 1 of the 2 American League Wild Card spots. (The Boston Red Sox person the other.) And aft scoring 44 runs connected the hapless Baltimore Orioles successful conscionable 3 games, they amusement nary signs of letting up.

The Orioles won the opener of the four-game bid connected Friday. But the Blue Jays struck backmost hard the pursuing day. Toronto won some games of Saturday’s doubleheader, 11-10 and 11-2. They would travel that up with 22 much runs successful Sunday’s game.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernández each pounded a expansive slam. It was the archetypal clip the squad has ever deed a pair of expansive slams successful a game. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added his 44th location tally of the play to ascent into a necktie with Shohei Ohtani for the league lead. The Blue Jays would extremity the crippled with 19 hits overall.

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Toronto, arsenic a team, presently leads the league successful location runs with 230. They’re besides 2nd successful squad batting mean astatine .267 and 2nd successful RBI with 729.