{"id":8215,"date":"2026-07-28T04:09:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8215"},"modified":"2026-07-28T04:09:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:09:38","slug":"on-his-42nd-birthday-max-scherzer-helps-blue-jays-beat-the-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8215","title":{"rendered":"On his 42nd birthday, Max Scherzer helps Blue Jays beat the Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former Washington legend allowed one run in an abbreviated start in his return from the injured list.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more CJ Abrams stays hot, and Nationals stay in the hunt<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s special,\u201d Max Scherzer said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of great memories here in D.C.” (Greg Fiume\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

As the Washington Nationals reminisced on a piece of their history Monday night with Max Scherzer on the mound at Nationals Park, the current iteration of the team was stopped in its tracks, suffering a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

The Nationals had chances but failed to get the big hit, going 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position. Washington dropped back to one game above .500 with the trade deadline \u2014 which might determine its fate for the rest of the season \u2014 now less than a week away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just felt like a night where we had opportunities and just couldn\u2019t capitalize,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said. \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating doing that when the pitching was as good as it was for us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The focus at the start of the game was on Scherzer and his homecoming. In Washington, he will always be cherished for his contributions during his 6\u00bd seasons with the team. The team\u2019s usual birthday shoutouts on the scoreboard ended by wishing Scherzer a happy 42nd, but current Nationals Foster Griffin and Jacob Young \u2014 who also celebrated birthdays Monday \u2014 were not mentioned.<\/p>\n

Scherzer\u2019s current teammates understood his place in Nationals fans\u2019 hearts, too. They let him take the mound alone for the bottom of the first, remaining in the dugout so he could have a moment on the mound where he made so many memories. Scherzer tipped his hat just slightly to the crowd, then got to work.<\/p>\n

Scherzer isn\u2019t the same pitcher who won back-to-back Cy Young Awards and led the Nationals through the magical 2019 World Series run. He has battled injuries over the last four seasons, including most recently back spasms, which had held him out since June 14. Before Monday, he had made just six starts this season, pitching to a 10.23 ERA.<\/p>\n

But he still is Scherzer. And that means he\u2019s still a competitor, even when he isn\u2019t in his prime.<\/p>\n

In the first inning, James Wood and Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. hit back-to-back singles, and CJ Abrams walked to load the bases with one out. But Scherzer was able to escape the logjam, striking out Dylan Crews and retiring Daylen Lile.<\/p>\n

An inning later, Scherzer wasn\u2019t as lucky, but he still minimized the damage. Nasim Nu\u00f1ez beat out a weak groundball to third for his 15th infield single of the year. Wood followed with a walk, and Garc\u00eda\u2019s double got Washington on the board before Jos\u00e9 Tena grounded out to Scherzer.<\/p>

Read more After taking a flier on Curtis Mead, Nationals flip infielder for promising pitcher<\/a><\/p>\n

In the third inning, the Nationals again attacked Scherzer. They took him deep into counts, driving his already limited pitch count up quickly. With one out, Scherzer and Lile battled to 12 pitches before the right-hander struck him out on a low curveball. Scherzer then looked toward the visitor dugout and shrugged, as if to say that\u2019s all he had.<\/p>\n

He walked off the mound a moment later, the crowd again giving him a standing ovation. This time, he tipped his cap fully, taking in the moment of what could be his last time pitching at Nationals Park. Scherzer is on a one-year, $3 million contract, and his future beyond that is unknown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special,\u201d Scherzer said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of great memories here in D.C. I wanted to show the fans respect as well, because they were cheering the whole time, even when I was warming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Nationals fans took in a part of their history, the current club still had work to do. Eddy Yean, in just his fourth major league appearance, served as the opener. He flew through the top part of the order, recording seven outs on 13 pitches. Then Luis Ur\u00edas cracked a first-pitch homer to center, and back-to-back doubles by Myles Straw and Ernie Clement gave the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
The Nationals’ James Wood steals second base, beating the tag of the Blue Jays’ Ernie Clement in the first inning. (John McDonnell\/AP Photo\/John McDonnell)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Andrew Alvarez took over from there to pitch a bulk of the game. It wasn\u2019t a clean outing. He fell behind often and walked three batters but managed to get through 4\u2153 innings with just one run allowed, an RBI single from Straw in the fourth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe walks are obviously killing me,\u201d said Alvarez, who was optioned after the game. \u201cI think it\u2019s definitely a small step forward. … I think it\u2019s a little bit better than how it\u2019s been going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9s Chaparro hit a first-pitch solo shot in the fifth inning, the first pinch-hit home run of his career, to get the Nationals within one. The Blue Jays\u2019 bullpen shut the offense down from there, allowing a total of four hits and a walk in 6\u2153 innings. The Nationals had one final chance in the bottom of the ninth inning after Nu\u00f1ez singled and Wood walked, but Garc\u00eda struck out to end the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a really good bullpen,\u201d Butera said. \u201cWe knew that. If we could do it over again, we have to take advantage right out of the gates when we had him on the ropes in the first inning.\u201d<\/p>

Read more For Nationals, this Christmas in July feels more merry<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former Washington legend allowed one run in an abbreviated start in his return from the injured list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nOn his 42nd birthday, Max Scherzer helps Blue Jays beat the Nationals - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8215\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On his 42nd birthday, Max Scherzer helps Blue Jays beat the Nationals - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The former Washington legend allowed one run in an abbreviated start in his return from the injured list.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8215\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-28T04:09:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9fcfea3f30e2d2e73669edfc669fa2df-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1695\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"On his 42nd birthday, Max Scherzer helps Blue Jays beat the Nationals\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-28T04:09:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215\"},\"wordCount\":951,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/17703fe190823a3b20d5f0e836db4735-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215\",\"name\":\"On his 42nd birthday, Max Scherzer helps Blue Jays beat the Nationals - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/17703fe190823a3b20d5f0e836db4735-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-28T04:09:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8215#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/17703fe190823a3b20d5f0e836db4735-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/17703fe190823a3b20d5f0e836db4735-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1695,\"caption\":\"WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 27: Max Scherzer #31 of the Toronto Blue Jays waves to the crowd after coming out of the game in the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 27, 2026 in Washington, DC. 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