During the sixth inning of the Rangers-Blue Jays game in Toronto on Tuesday night — an eventual 6-3 Texas win — Rangers starting pitcher Max Scherzer was forced from the game due to some sort of injury. The Rangers initially called the injury a right triceps spasm.
Scherzer tried to throw some warmup pitches after consulting with Rangers personnel on the mound, but he started and stopped twice without actually throwing the ball.
Bear in mind that Scherzer after his start on Sept. 1 noted that he felt something in his forearm, but he also said that isn’t uncommon this time of the season.
After the game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters that Scherzer will have an MRI Wednesday (via Jeff Wilson). Bochy also said Scherzer wanted to stay in the game, for whatever that’s worth.
Scherzer had thrown 5 1/3 scoreless innings Tuesday night. He has a 3.77 ERA and 1.12 WHIP this season. The Rangers traded for Scherzer a few days before the trade deadline and he looked like a nice replacement for Jacob deGrom, who had to undergo Tommy John surgery. All-Start Nathan Eovaldi just recently worked back from an injury and hasn’t fully been stretched out yet, having thrown 47 pitches in 2 1/3 innings last time out.
Other than Scherzer and Eovaldi, the rest of the Rangers’ rotation is comprised of Jordan Montgomery, Jon Gray and Dane Dunning. Both Andrew Heaney and Martín Pérez were in the rotation earlier this season and have been bumped.
The Rangers entered Tuesday two games out in the AL West and a half-game ahead of the Mariners for the third and final AL wild-card spot. This win jumped them over the Blue Jays for the second wild-card spot and, thanks to the Astros loss in Oakland, moved them back to within a game in the AL West.
