The Toronto Blue Jays are getting healthier.

Max Scherzer will be the second Blue Jays’ starting pitcher in a row to return from the injured list when he starts the series finale Wednesday night against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.

Dylan Cease returned from the IL Tuesday night to strike out 11 over six innings in the Blue Jays’ 3-2 walk-off victory. Cease had not pitched since May 24 because of a strained hamstring.

Each team has won once in the three-game series.

Reliever Adam Macko was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to clear roster space for Cease. There will be other roster moves with Scherzer coming back and catcher Alejandro Kirk likely to return from a fractured thumb on Friday.

Scherzer (1-3, 9.64 ERA) is scheduled to make his first start since April 24 after dealing with forearm and ankle issues. He is one strikeout away from becoming the 11th pitcher in major league history to reach 3,500 for his career.

The right-hander is 18-5 with a 2.58 ERA in 31 career starts against the Phillies but has not faced them since 2023.

The Phillies are slated to start left-hander Jesus Luzardo (4-4, 4.56 ERA) on Wednesday. His one career start against the Blue Jays was last season, and it did not go well. He was saddled with the loss after allowing eight runs on nine hits in 2 1/3 innings.

It is unclear how Toronto’s lineup will look against Luzardo.

In an attempt to get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. out of his rut, for instance, Blue Jays manager John Schneider had him bat leadoff for the second time in his career on Tuesday. He was 1-for-4 with an infield hit and is hitting .167 (5-for-30) with one RBI in June.

“We’re just trying to shake things up for him a little bit, and we’ll see how it goes,” Schneider said. “I’ve been talking to him about it for a while. I feel like I’ve been talking about him in the two-hole for five years. We were talking about this a couple of weeks ago and he said, ‘I’ll hit wherever.’ It was probably a three-minute conversation (Monday) night. It’s no secret. We go as Vlad goes. No one feels that more than him.”

“I’m sure (Schneider) is trying to get something going, give Schneider a different feel for Vlad,” said Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly, who was Toronto’s bench coach the previous three seasons. “I’m hoping it doesn’t really work — for a few days.”

Another struggling Blue Jays hitter, George Springer, was given Tuesday off, although he did get ready to pinch hit late in the game. He was not needed, however.

Tuesday was a tough game for the closers. Toronto’s Louis Varland allowed only his second earned run of the season in the top of the ninth inning on a walk and Bryson Stott’s double that gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

Philadelphia’s Jhoan Duran entered the bottom of the ninth having converted all 16 save attempts this season. But two hits and a wild pitch tied the game, and Brandon Valenzuela singled for his first career walk-off hit.

“You know it’s going to happen at some point,” Mattingly said.

Cease and Phillies starter Zack Wheeler each allowed one run in six innings.

“Cease was really good; I thought Zack was good,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, it was one of those games that’s just not going to be a bunch of runs going up.”

–Field Level Media

LAS VEGAS — Milwaukee Brewers rookie Brandon Sproat will have the challenge of keeping the ball in the park against the long-ball launching Athletics on Wednesday at the hitter-friendly home of the A’s Triple-A affiliate.

Sproat (1-4, 6.17 ERA), who has given up 11 homers in 54 innings this season, will be opposed by fellow right-hander Jack Perkins (2-3, 6.19) in the final game of a three-game series.

The A’s pounded out five homers in a 7-5 victory Tuesday night to even the series and snap the Brewers four-game winning streak. Tyler Soderstrom and Nick Kurtz each went deep for the third time in two games for the A’s, who have 12 homers in the series, matching a franchise record for most homers in a two-game span.

Jonah Heim and Zack Gelof each homered for the second time in the series Tuesday and Henry Bolte added his first career homer. The A’s are 15-6 when they hit more homers than their opponent.

The Brewers won a 15-14 slugfest in 12 innings in the series opener on Monday night. The A’s have learned the ball can jump in Las Vegas, where they are scheduled to move permanently when their new climate-controlled stadium opens in 2028.

T.J. Ginn allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings to get the win. A’s starters are 4-12 over the past 23 games.

Gelof extended his hitting streak to 14 games, hitting .345 (19-for-55) over that span.

Perkins will be making his second consecutive start after 17 appearances out of the bullpen.

After going 2-0 with 2.70 ERA in eight relief appearances in April, he was 0-2 with 7.98 ERA in nine relief outings in May, allowing 15 runs, 13 earned, in 14 2/3 innings.

He took the loss in his start Friday, allowing five runs on five hits in four innings in a 75-pitch outing in a 5-1 defeat at Houston. He gave up a three-run homer to Isaac Paredes in the first inning.

“One mistake really, I feel like actually hurt, but outside of that, I feel like I threw a lot of competitive pitches,” Perkins said afterward. “My whole goal today getting back into a starter’s mindset was to compete at a high level. I feel like I did that.”

Sproat is 1-3 with a 5.97 ERA over his past seven starts, allowing 21 earned runs on 33 hits in 31 2/3 innings. He struck out 34 over that span, but also walked 16.

Sproat did not get a decision in his most recent start, allowing three runs on seven hits in five innings when the Brewers rallied for 9-7 win at Colorado in 10 innings last Friday.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy has expressed frustration at times with Sproat’s inconsistency.

After a 9-2 loss to Houston in late May, Sproat’s third consecutive start of not getting out of the fifth inning, Murphy said, “We’re not going to tolerate too many duds like this, that’s for sure. If he’s not going to step up — we’re trying to win. We’re not rebuilding.”

“His stuff is really, really good,” Murphy continued. “He’s shown so many flashes of being really good, and that’s why it’s worth sticking with him. Because when he gets really good, that gives us yet another solid starter.”

The A’s series with the Brewers will be followed by another three games in Las Vegas against the Colorado Rockies.

— Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media

Coors Field usually is packed with Chicago Cubs fans when the team comes to Denver, but Tuesday night there wasn’t much for them to cheer about against the Colorado Rockies.

Colorado jumped ahead early and cruised to a 7-3 win to snap a four-game skid.

The Rockies will go for their second straight win and a series victory when the teams clash again on Wednesday night.

Colorado will send right-hander Michael Lorenzen (2-8, 8.01 ERA) to the mound against left-hander Shota Imanaga (4-6, 4.74) in the second contest of a three-game set.

Lorenzen, 34, has struggled in his first season with the Rockies, posting the highest ERA in the majors with a minimum of 10 starts. He hasn’t fared well against Chicago in his career, going 2-4 with a 7.36 ERA in 42 appearances (three starts).

Wednesday’s game will feature Cole Carrigg, who made his major league debut in the series opener. The 24-year-old popped up on the first big-league pitch he saw, struck out in his second at-bat, but lined a triple down the right-field line in the fifth inning for his first hit.

Carrigg has hit well all season, which prompted his promotion. In 257 plate appearances at Triple-A Albuquerque, he batted .338 with five triples, six homers, 42 RBIs and 30 stolen bases, numbers that were tough to ignore.

“When you are playing well, it’s kind of hard not to look up here,” Carrigg said Tuesday. “It’s hard to stay where your feet are, but that’s the best thing you can do — keep taking advantage of those opportunities at Triple-A and make sure you’re ready when you get here.”

The Cubs have dropped two games in a row and seven of their past 10.

Right-hander Jameson Taillon went on the 15-day injured list with a strained hamstring and is expected to be out until after the All-Star break next month, adding to the string of injured pitchers.

Imanaga has stayed healthy all season and is scheduled to make his 14th start of 2026 and face Colorado for the second time in his career. He made his major league debut against the Rockies on April 1, 2024, allowing only two hits and striking out nine over six scoreless innings to earn his first victory.

He will need to have a similar outing if Chicago’s offense continues to struggle. The Cubs have scored three or fewer runs while losing six of their last eight games and hope getting utility man Matt Shaw back from injury will help, especially in late-game situations.

Shaw missed three weeks with back tightness but was activated from the IL before Tuesday night’s game. He didn’t play but is ready to step in when needed.

“Obviously ready to help in any way you can, you know,” he said earlier Tuesday. “Whatever that kind of looks like, whenever that kind of manifests into whether, again, it could be some of those late-inning pinch running situations, and I look forward to those.”

–Field Level Media