Blue Jays place Bieber on the 15-day IL
Shane Bieber's move to the injured list came a day after a 5-3 loss to the Royals dropped Toronto to 64-69, with Randy Dobnak and Spencer Miles taking the mound tonight at Rogers Centre.
Scherzer's five innings not enough
Royals3-5Max Scherzer allowed two runs on four hits over 5.0 innings, walking five and striking out four, as the Blue Jays fell 5-3 to the Kansas City Royals at Rogers Centre on August 25. Brendon Little worked a scoreless inning in relief (1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 3 K), and Brett Bateman went 3-for-5, but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit.
The loss left Toronto 2-3 in its last five games and dropped its record to 64-69 — already 3.0 games back in the AL Wild Card race with a 16-game elimination number.
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The Blue Jays placed Shane Bieber on the 15-day injured list Tuesday with right teres major inflammation, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reported. It's the second rotation blow in two weeks: Jameson Taillon, out since mid-August with a forearm issue, is scheduled to throw around 50 pitches in a rehab start with Triple-A Buffalo on Friday, Zwelling reported.
There was better news for the lineup — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was reinstated from the seven-day injured list on August 22, per MLB Trade Rumors, giving Toronto its middle-of-the-order bat back even as the rotation thins out behind Scherzer.
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Randy Dobnak takes the mound for Kansas City at 2-1 with a 1.58 ERA; in his last start, August 20 against the Athletics, he went 4.0 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and four walks in a no-decision. Spencer Miles starts for Toronto at 5-2 with a 3.02 ERA, though he hasn't pitched since July 17, when he allowed six earned runs over 4.0 innings in a loss to the Chicago White Sox.
The Blue Jays host the Royals tonight as favorites, with the total reading middling — neither a shootout nor a pitchers' duel. Given Miles' more than five-week layoff since his last outing against Dobnak's sharper recent form, the market's confidence in Toronto looks like it leans on home-field advantage as much as anything else.