Scherzer throws three scoreless innings in Buffalo rehab start

Max Scherzer gave the Blue Jays exactly the kind of first step they needed in Buffalo: three scoreless, hitless innings with two walks and four strikeouts at Sahlen Field, even as the Bisons fell 8-5 to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. For Toronto, the outing mattered less as a rehab line than as a sign that the veteran right-hander can still clear a game setting and keep his return moving toward the big league rotation.

The start was Scherzer’s first rehab outing after the Blue Jays placed him on the 15-day injured list on April 27 with right forearm tendinitis and left ankle inflammation. After that long layoff, the real question was not simply whether he could miss bats, but whether his body would hold up through a full mound session. Three clean innings answered that first test. They showed enough command and enough recovery to make Toronto’s next decision feel closer, even if the work is still far from complete.

What still has to be built is the part that determines whether the Blue Jays can trust him in a regular turn. Scherzer needs more innings, a higher pitch count and another clean recovery day before Toronto can treat him as ready for major-league hitters. That is why the club has not rushed him, and why Sunday’s result, while encouraging, was only one checkpoint in a carefully managed return.

The timetable already points to the next one. Scherzer threw a bullpen session on June 2 and is scheduled for another rehab start of up to 60 pitches on June 5. Toronto has listed him as expected back in early-to-mid June, which means the Blue Jays are close to deciding whether he needs one more tune-up or whether he can be folded back into a rotation that has been tested by injuries.

That is the immediate impact of three scoreless innings in Buffalo: it gives Toronto options. If Scherzer comes out of the next outing clean, the Blue Jays can start weighing how quickly to activate him and who gets bumped from the current mix. Toronto has handled him this way before, including a June 2025 Buffalo rehab start in which he threw 56 pitches over 4 1/3 innings with four strikeouts. Buffalo once again served as the proving ground, and Scherzer’s first answer was the one Toronto needed most.