Seventeen years after their first MLB meeting, Hall of Famers Kershaw and Scherzer faced off again – and history repeated itself

It’s rare for two pitchers destined for the Baseball Hall of Fame to face each other in the twilight of their careers, nearly two decades after their first clash in the majors. That’s exactly what happened with Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, who took the mound to open the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays – a matchup the California side won 5–1.

Kershaw claimed the win after working six full innings, allowing just one run despite giving up seven hits. The Dodgers veteran issued only one walk and struck out four of the 23 batters he faced.

Scherzer, on the other hand, was tagged with his second loss of the season after surrendering two earned runs across six innings. Mookie Betts broke open the game against the Toronto starter with a two-run homer in the fifth inning.

The trouble deepened for the visitors when Brendon Little came in to relieve Scherzer. The left-hander couldn’t finish the seventh, yielding a hit to Betts that loaded the bases with no outs. Louis Varland came on, but walked Will Smith to force in the Dodgers’ fourth run. The home side added their fifth on a sacrifice fly by Teoscar Hernández.

The Blue Jays tried to make the scoreline more respectable, but the Dodgers’ bullpen shut the door. Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius and Blake Treinen combined to keep Toronto scoreless and seal Kershaw’s victory over Scherzer.

Kershaw takes the head-to-head lead

Since both entered the majors, Kershaw and Scherzer had faced each other only three times in the regular season, with each holding one win and one no-decision. With this victory, the Los Angeles ace pulled ahead in their personal tally.

In direct matchups, Kershaw had a 2.65 ERA after giving up just five runs in 17 innings. Coincidentally, Scherzer had pitched the same number of innings in those games, but his ERA climbed to 3.71 after allowing seven runs.

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