Max Scherzer will try to cool down red-hot CJ Abrams when the Toronto Blue Jays visit the Washington Nationals for the opener of a three-game series on Monday night.

Scherzer, who won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019, will come off the injured list and make the start on his 42nd birthday.

Abrams will look to continue his torrid run. In a 10-7 win against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, he went 3-for-5 with two homers, two runs scored and three RBIs.

Over his past seven games, Abrams is hitting .567 (17-for-30) with seven homers and 14 RBIs. He has 27 home runs overall, passing Ian Desmond (25 in 2012) for the most homers in a single season by a Nationals shortstop (2005-present).

“I’ve been swinging at better pitches,” Abrams said on Sunday. “Today, those were balls, but just swinging at better pitches and being more relaxed at the plate allows me to be more disciplined. Good things happen when I’m relaxed.”

Scherzer (1-4, 10.23 ERA) opposes left-hander Andrew Alvarez (2-3, 4.22) on Monday night. The veteran right-hander has made multiple trips to the injured list this season, the most recent for back spasms and a thumb issue. In a rehab start with Triple-A Buffalo last Wednesday he threw 56 pitches and struck out seven. He will be making his seventh start of the season.

Scherzer last pitched against Washington on July 28, 2023, throwing seven innings of one-run ball while striking out seven for the New York Mets to defeat the Nationals for the second time that season. The earlier game, on May 14, 2023 in Washington, was an 8-2 Mets victory.

Alvarez has worked as both a starter and reliever this season. Over his last three appearances, he is 0-2 with an 8.25 ERA. Last time out on July 20, he started against the host Colorado Rockies and gave up three runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Both teams are in wild-card contention. Washington took two of three from Arizona over the weekend and is one game behind the Diamondbacks for the third wild card in the National League. Toronto is 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland for the final spot and has five teams between itself and the Guardians.

In addition to Abrams heroics on Sunday, James Wood also hit two homers, giving him 30 on the season.

The Nationals traded infielder Curtis Mead to the Boston Red Sox late Saturday for pitcher Connelly Early. Third baseman Brady House was called up from Triple-A Rochester on Sunday and went 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored.

“I think I’m just trying to get to the point where no matter what kind of at-bat it is, that I’m looking to hit the ball hard,” House said after his first major league game since May 18.

Toronto dropped a 6-1 decision to the Boston Red Sox in the rubber game of their series on Sunday.

George Springer, 36, had two singles, giving him his fifth multi-hit game over his past seven.

“He’s swinging at good pitches and laying off some stuff he was just putting in play a couple of weeks ago,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He has a good state of mind. He’s swinging the bat fast and he’s moving pretty well.”

–Field Level Media

The New York Mets will play a division leader for the third consecutive series when they host the Atlanta Braves for a three-game set starting Monday night.

After rallying to beat the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday and snap a three-game skid, the Mets seek back-to-back victories for the first time since July 8-9 against Kansas City.

Zac Thornton (1-1, 1.93 ERA), a promising left-handed rookie, makes his fifth start and is coming off his first victory in the big leagues. Last Tuesday, he threw six shutout innings in Milwaukee, limiting the NL Central leader to just three hits and a walk as the Mets beat the Brewers 4-0.

The 24-year-old has thrown 18 straight scoreless innings over his last three starts.

Offensively, Tyrone Taylor has enjoyed a strong July, doing so even with limited plate appearances. The Mets outfielder, 32, returned to the team in late June after missing a month due to a right hip flexor strain. Since July 4, he’s hit five home runs in 27 at-bats, including a go-ahead, three-run shot in the sixth inning against the Dodgers that put the Mets up for good in their 8-3 win Sunday.

Over his last 14 games, Taylor is hitting .370 (10-for-27) with nine RBIs. He’s also performed well against lefties this season, batting .292 (19-for-65) with four homers and 11 RBIs.

The Braves, the NL East pacesetters, will start Martin Perez (6-6, 3.38). The left-hander has lost three of his last four starts and only thrown five full innings once in that span. He went four in his most recent start on Wednesday against San Diego. Coming off 16 days’ rest, he allowed only one hit and struck out three while not allowing a run. However, he issued four walks in the no-decision.

Atlanta has won seven of its 10 games coming out of the All-Star break, including Sunday, when it beat the host Baltimore Orioles 3-2 in 11 innings. The Braves survived a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the 10th inning before Austin Riley hit an RBI double in the ensuing frame.

“I talk about gritty wins,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “That’s another gritty win. We’ve had several of those recently.”

Drake Baldwin is following up his NL Rookie of the Year campaign last season with a better one this year. The All-Star catcher already has 20 homers, one more than last year, while improving his slugging and on-base percentages.

However, he has not fared well against the Mets or at Citi Field. He’s hit just .217 (10-for-46) against them in 14 games with two home runs and nine RBIs. In Queens, he was just 2-for-15 (.133) in five games last season.

While Atlanta is looking to make the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons, the Mets are last in the NL East, 18.5 games back and already looking to next year. That means they will probably be sellers ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

After New York hosts Atlanta, the Miami Marlins will come to town for a four-game series, so there will be no scheduled off days this week. Among the trade candidates are several relievers, but Mets interim manager Andy Green said while they will “be conservative to some degree,” he will still use trade candidates if they are sound.

“We’re here today,” he said. “We play to win a baseball game. We’ll do the same tomorrow.”

–Field Level Media

The Athletics’ season has been in a free fall in recent weeks and there is likely no recovering from the latest blow.

The Athletics could learn Monday that All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers requires season-ending knee surgery before they later take the field against the Boston Red Sox at West Sacramento, Calif.

Langeliers reportedly sustained a torn meniscus in his right knee during Friday’s game against the Minnesota Twins and was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday.

“We’re looking at the situation and making sure that he gets the best advice, the best care and, hopefully, the quickest recovery,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said after Sunday’s 11-8 road loss to the Twins.

Langeliers started for the American League in the recent All-Star Game and leads AL catchers in homers (23) and hits (99). This is the fourth straight season in which he has smacked more than 20 homers.

His loss comes at a time in which the A’s have lost 23 of their past 29 games. The Athletics were at .500 on June 19 but now sit 17 games below the mark entering the four-game set against the lava-hot Red Sox.

Boston has won 17 of its last 19 games after Sunday’s 6-1 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.

The once-floundering team is now in the thick of the AL wild-card chase. The Red Sox are in second place in a race in which only one team below them — the third-place Cleveland Guardians — are above .500.

Jarren Duran helped fuel Sunday’s victory with three singles, two RBIs and one steal.

“I think we’re just settling into ourselves,” Duran told reporters. “Early on, we were still trying to find our identity. I feel like we’re just now coming into what we knew we could be. It’s showing and the boys have bought in since Day One.

“It’s just baseball and we were going through that grind and we’re starting to roll and it’s awesome to see.”

Jahmai Jones contributed a pinch-hit, two-run double as Boston scored at least five runs for the eighth time during an 8-2 homestand.

“We had some really good performances across the board,” Jones said. “I felt like it was a really good team day.”

Boston sends left-hander Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.31 ERA) to the mound in the opener.

Tolle, 23, received a no-decision against the Baltimore Orioles on July 20 when he gave up four runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 6-5 A’s win.

Tolle went 0-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two appearances (one start) against the A’s last season.

He served up a homer to Nick Kurtz, who just returned to the A’s lineup on Saturday after a right thumb injury.

On Sunday, in his second game, All-Star first baseman Kurtz drilled a three-run homer against the Twins. He had been in a 0-for-25 funk before the blast, which was his 21st of the season.

Right-hander Jack Perkins (2-5, 6.75) will start for the Athletics for the eighth time this season.

He took a no-decision against the host Arizona Diamondbacks last Tuesday when he gave up three runs and five hits over five innings.

In his previous two turns, Perkins gave up a combined 10 runs and nine hits — including four homers — in just 6 2/3 innings. He lost both outings.

Perkins, 26, has never faced the Red Sox.

–Field Level Media