Two veterans who are starting to pitch up to their standards will square off Saturday evening when the Toronto Blue Jays visit the Philadelphia Phillies in the middle game of a weekend set.
Max Scherzer (1-4, 7.92 ERA) will take the mound for Toronto, while fellow right-hander Aaron Nola (3-9, 5.55) will start for Philadelphia.
Scherzer is coming off one of his best starts of the season, and Nola generally has been better lately.
Still, both pitchers have been inconsistent for most of 2026.
On top of his struggles on the mound, Scherzer has battled back and thumb injuries while making only three starts since late April. The three-time Cy Young Award winner came off the injured list on Sunday and held the St. Louis Cardinals to one run and four hits in six innings in his team’s 5-1 loss.
Scherzer struck out five, moving him three shy of tying Walter Johnson (3,515) for 10th place in MLB history, per the Elias Sports Bureau.
“It does mean something. When you’re talking about to be top 10 all time, it’s a significant milestone to reach,” Scherzer said. “If and when I get across that, it would be a really cool accomplishment.”
Nola is approaching a milestone, as well, as he needs just three strikeouts to reach 2,000 for his career. He struck out five in his six innings Monday against the Washington Nationals while yielding three runs and six hits as the Phillies won 6-3.
“I thought he hung in there,” Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly said. “… Obviously the early runs were not what we were looking for, but after that, he was really able to bear down and keep getting out of innings. He got us where we needed to go.”
Nola, who gave up only one run over 5 2/3 innings vs. the Miami Marlins in his previous game, is 2-3 with a 5.45 ERA in seven career appearances (all starts) against the Blue Jays, although he hasn’t faced them since 2024.
Scherzer is 18-6 with a 2.76 ERA in 32 career appearances (all starts) vs. the Phillies, including a rough outing on June 10 in which he allowed five runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Toronto won Friday’s series opener 5-4 as Josh Smith finished with three hits, including a homer, and scored three times. Alejandro Kirk added a pair of RBIs, and Andres Gimenez also homered for the Blue Jays.
“It felt good. Really good win,” Smith said. “Little stressful there towards the end, but it was fun.”
The Phillies managed only five hits as they failed to take advantage of 10 walks by Blue Jays pitching. Philadelphia scored twice against Trevor Rogers in the ninth inning and had the bases loaded with one out, but Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh were unable to drive in the tying run.
“I thought we had a chance — bases loaded with one out,” Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper said, also referencing failed rallies in the fifth and seventh innings. “Got to have better at-bats, through and through. … Just got to be better.”
The Blue Jays could welcome back star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on Saturday. The slugger has missed three straight games with hamstring tightness.
“Yeah, he’s banged up a little bit, but at no point is it to the point where it’s really affecting him,” manager John Schneider said. “Whenever he’s in there, we feel like he’s good enough to be the best version of him.”
–Field Level Media
