Max Scherzer Moves Up in History, Here's How He Did It

TORONTO -- While the final score of 7-0 will lead you to believe that the Toronto Blue Jays offense was the story on Sunday, the real story was starting pitcher Max Scherzer, who delivered a dominant performance in moving the Jays to within two games under .500 at 68-70.

Scherzer, who had an ERA over seven entering the game, delivered seven masterful innings, striking out 10 Seattle Mariners en route to the win, his second of the year. The 10 strikeouts were double his previous season-high of five and moved him into sole possession of ninth place on the all-time MLB strikeouts list (3,535). 

When he hit the number, there was a lengthy ovation from the Rogers Centre faithful, and Scherzer acknowledged the crowd, with permission from the umpire, who clearly suspended the pitch timer for the occasion. 

Scherzer was in control right from the jump, striking out the side in the top of the first inning. Speaking after the game, Mariners manager Dan Wilson said that Scherzer used a good combination of fastballs and offspeed pitchers, saying that his team was behind the fastball and out front of the offspeed all day. It was a pitch mix befitting of Scherzer and his veteran savvy. He was clearly able to take advantage of a porous Mariners lineup that continues to miss veteran spark Brendan Donovan, who is out with a concussion.

The Mariners were held to just one hit on the afternoon, a double by Cal Raleigh that nearly missed being a home run.

Seattle had runners in scoring position twice, but Scherzer held off the scoring chances by inducing a Cole Young pop-up in the second and a Josh Naylor strike out after the Raleigh double.

The Blue Jays entered play at just 1.5 games back of the third and final wild card in the American League and they'll likely stay there with the Guardians leading as of this posting.

The two teams will play each other for a huge series beginning Tuesday night. Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease will pitch the middle game of that series (Wednesday).

This was the third Blue Jays sweep of the season. Offensively, Toronto was led by Alejandro Kirk, who hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. Kazuma Okamoto also homered, his 28th of the season.

Logan Gilbert took the loss for Seattle, as he surrendered three earned runs in five innings. The Mariners are 64-73.