Blue Jays’ AL wild-card tiebreakers, schedules: Toronto turns to Mad Max to avoid series sweep against Tigers ace - Toronto Star

Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer had his best outing of the season followed by two shaky ones ahead of his start against the Tigers in Wednesday’s series finale.

It looked as though things would stay status quo at the top of the race for the final playoff spot in the American League for most of Tuesday night.

The Blue Jays were getting thumped by the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre, but a four-run sixth inning by the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland allowed the Sox to take the lead into the bottom of the ninth.

The Guardians did not go quietly, though, getting a walk-off win on a two-run double by Brayan Rocchio with two outs and two strikes in the final frame.

With the win — and the brutal night for the Jays — Cleveland extended its lead to two games over the Jays with just a week and a half to go in the season. More importantly, for them anyway, the Guardians closed to within half a game of the White Sox for first place in the AL Central.

Let's finish the homestand strong! pic.twitter.com/SG07R5TUef

Even though everyone but the Jays won Tuesday, meaning that Texas slipped past Toronto in the standings, it remains very much a race between teams with major flaws, struggling to get to (or stay at) the .500 mark.

The Jays will try to avoid getting swept by the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday afternoon with Max Scherzer on the mound, coming off back-to-back shaky starts. The Tigers counter with righty Keider Montero, who has become the ace of their staff with the trade of Tarik Skubal.

Rookie likely will return as a bulk reliever, possibly this weekend against Texas.