There will be no Max Scherzer reunion in D.C. this season, an idea that sounded good in theory but probably never had much serious chance of coming to fruition.

Scherzer, after waiting out a prolonged Hot Stove League in search of a job, finally found a new home Thursday, reportedly agreeing to a one-year, $15.5 million deal with the Blue Jays. It’s the right-hander’s lowest annual salary since 2013, when he was a 28-year-old in Detroit still trying to prove himself one of the game’s best pitchers.

The market for Scherzer wasn’t nearly as robust as he and agent Scott Boras probably hoped, but they had several factors working against them. Scherzer turns 41 in July. And he’s coming off an injury plagued season with the Rangers that saw him make only nine starts while compiling an un-Scherzer-like 3.95 ERA.

If the hope was to create a bidding war among multiple contending clubs interested in a three-time Cy Young Award winner’s production and leadership, it never fully materialized. Scherzer remained unsigned deep into January and earlier this week needed to hold a personal showcase in front of scouts from several teams to drum up interest and prove he’s healthy again.

The Blue Jays, who spent much of the winter missing out on a number of top-tier free agents to big-market clubs, finally came through and inked Scherzer to a deal that’s relatively modest by his standards.

The Orioles got their last look at Anthony Santander in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series as he stood in their clubhouse and soaked in another painful scene. A quick playoff ouster, similar to the previous October’s sweep in Texas. The consoling hugs, the realization that many teammates wouldn’t be back.

He stood at his locker, motionless, and scanned the room, as if taking mental snapshots.

Santander will get to experience a reunion with who’s left in a couple of months.

The Blue Jays reportedly have reached agreement with Santander on a five-year deal for more than $90 million. The contract includes a club option.

Update: The New York Post's Jon Heyman says the deal is worth $92.5 million.

The Orioles and Blue Jays play the third game of their four-game series tonight after splitting a doubleheader Monday. The Orioles won the opener 11-5 and lost the nightcap 8-4.

The Orioles (63-44) lead the American League East, but now just by a half-game over the Yankees, who have won their past three games. The Orioles have not been in second place since June 26. They would be tonight with a loss and another Yankees win.

While the Orioles are 3-3 their past six games, in longer stretches they have lost six of their past nine, 12 of 19 and 13 of the last 21 games.

Since June 21 when they began a series where they would be swept in Houston, the Orioles are 14-19 with a -42 run differential. In those 33 games, they have a team ERA of 5.37 allowing a team batting average to opponents of .270 with an .800 OPS in that span. Opponents are scoring 4.5 runs per game with 48 home runs in this stretch.

After the doubleheader, the O’s have now allowed five or more runs in eight straight games, seven times allowing six or more. In the eight games, they have allowed 91 hits with a 5.45 team ERA.

TORONTO – Ryan Mountcastle likes hitting against Toronto and in Toronto. That point was reinforced again tonight as he hit a three-run homer to left in the Orioles' four-run third and later added another homer as they were on their way to their latest victory.

Mountcastle hit Nos. 9 and 10 as the Orioles beat the Blue Jays 10-1 to improve to 39-20. They have won five of six and 10 of their past 12 games. They are now 18-8 on the road.

Since being swept three straight in St. Louis, they are 10-2, scoring 75 runs. 

The Orioles have now gone 20 straight American League East series without losing one as they will at least split this four-game set after winning the last two nights. Their outstanding record in the division is now 13-4.

This game also featured the first major league hit and homer of Connor Norby's career. Playing his second big league game and having gone 0-for-6 in the bigs to that point, he hit a two-run shot to left in the eighth off right-hander Nate Pearson for a 10-1 lead. 

TORONTO – In going 6-1 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre last year, the Orioles batted .293 as a team and had an OPS of .808 against the Blue Jays.

But over those seven games, they hit just eight homers. Last night, in beating Toronto again at Rogers Centre by a 7-2 score, they mashed four home runs.

That tied an O’s season high and they did it for the second time in three games after also hitting four on April 11 at Boston.

The Orioles are now 12-4 this year versus American League East teams, going 5-1 versus the Red Sox, 3-1 against the Yankees, 2-1 versus the Blue Jays and 2-1 against the Rays.

The Orioles have gone 4-0-1 in five AL East series and they are 5-1 in the series-opening games against the division after Monday’s win.

TORONTO – For a team that has sent five starting pitchers to the injured list already this year and just recently lost both John Means and Tyler Wells for the season, seeing TBA listed as the Orioles' starters Wednesday and Thursday in this series presented some intrigue.

But today, O’s manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that right-hander Albert Suárez (2-0, 1.57 ERA) will start tomorrow against the Blue Jays and righty Kyle Bradish (1-0, 3.18 ERA) could go on Thursday.

“We are still TBA for Thursday. Probably announce that sometime tomorrow. But Suárez for tomorrow,” said Hyde.

Hyde was asked if there are any health concerns with Bradish.

“No, we’re considering giving him an extra day (of rest) or two," he said. "Just kind of from how he is feeling. But we are just monitoring it daily. So we are keeping that TBA right now."

Running low on starting pitching, the Orioles are bringing back a veteran who didn’t make the team out of spring training.

The club is on the verge of signing Julio Teheran to another minor league deal, according to a source. The sides are "close."

Teheran, 33, agreed to a minor league deal on Feb. 28 that would have paid $2 million if he pitched in the majors. He allowed five runs and nine hits with seven walks and 10 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings and was granted his release.

The Mets signed Teheran on April 5 and he became a free agent again six days later after making one start and allowing four runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings in Atlanta.

The Cubs signed Teheran on April 18 and released him Saturday after another opt-out. He posted an 8.82 ERA and 1.806 WHIP in eight starts with Triple-A Iowa.

Adley Rutschman took a big swing, stumbled back and twisted his torso, looking like a golfer using body English to keep the ball from hitting the water or sand.

Rutschman crossed home plate and was drenched.

The second walk-off home run of his career in the ninth inning gave the Orioles an improbable 3-2 win over the Blue Jays before an announced “Field Trip Day” crowd of 29,578 at Camden Yards. Jordan Westburg led off with an infield single against Jordan Romano after defensive replacement Isiah Kiner-Falefa mishandled a grounder and Rutschman lofted a high drive to right that kept carrying to the first row of the flag court.

The ball bounced onto the field and Rutschman waved his arm above his head to signal home run. A review upheld his gesture.

"I was running out of the box, I got around the bases pretty quick," he said at his locker after a long postgame workout. "It snuck out."

After they lost on Sunday and Monday and rained out last night, the Orioles' last win came by a 5-4 score in 11 innings Saturday against the Diamondbacks. Today the Orioles wrap up this rain-shortened series now of just two games with the Blue Jays.

After Monday's 3-2 loss in 10 innings, the Orioles are 26-14. They are 14-9 at home, 6-2 against American League East teams, 5-5 in one-run games and 3-3 in extra-inning games. 

Overall, they have won three of five, seven of 10, 14 of 21 and 18 of their past 26 games.

Toronto, which entered this series 0-5-1 in its last six series, is 19-22 for the year, which includes a record of 10-13 on the road. The Blue Jays have lost four of their past seven, seven of 11 and 12 of their last 18 games.

Toronto is now 1-1 in extra innings, 8-6 in series openers and 4-5 in one-run games. 

Gunnar Henderson has served as Orioles leadoff hitter in every game this season, but he’s in the cleanup spot this afternoon against the Blue Jays. Jordan Westburg bats first for the first time in his major league career.

Why Westburg?

The Blue Jays announced this morning that they’d give the ball to left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, but matchups haven’t impacted Henderson in the past.

“Just a little bit the way our lineup is with two lefties at the bottom,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “A bunch of things, but having Gunnar in a little bit more of an RBI spot, having those four guys at the top with (Anthony) Santander in the middle there. We’ll see what it looks like.”

Hyde keeps praising the quality of Westburg’s at-bats, which makes the infielder a viable candidate at the top.

The Orioles will try again today to squeeze in a game against the Blue Jays despite more rain in the forecast.

Jordan Westburg is leading off for the first time in his major league career. Gunnar Henderson moves to the cleanup spot for the 11^th time.

Kyle Bradish makes his third start after allowing two runs and striking out 14 batters in 9 2/3 innings following his reinstatement from the injured list. He’s made seven career starts against the Blue Jays and registered a 5.25 ERA and 1.417 WHIP in 36 innings.

Orioles starters have gone an average of 5.7 innings per start, fifth-highest in the majors, per STATS. The Blue Jays are 14^th at 5.3.

George Springer is 7-for-17 with four doubles and a home run against Bradish. Bo Bichette is 5-for-15 with two homers, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is 5-for-17 with a homer, and Alejandro Kirk is 5-for-10 with a double.

The season is not yet one-quarter complete, and there’s far too much time left to know exactly how this is going to play out. But if you’re looking for consistent themes out of the 2024 Nationals, you might be best-served remembering the term Davey Martinez used to describe his team one week ago after it pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in club history: "Relentless."

These Nationals have their flaws, no doubt. The roster has holes, especially the lineup. The pitching can be erratic. The defense has been downright ugly the last two days.

But here at the end of the first week of May, they once again reached the .500 mark, thanks to another impressive come-from-behind victory, this one by the absurd score of 11-8 over the Blue Jays.

A game that started 1 hour, 25 minutes late due to rain, then saw the Nats dig themselves into a 6-1 hole in the third inning, somehow ended with high-fives and handshakes at the center of the diamond, thanks to a relentless offensive attack that included four hits (including a homer) from Luis García Jr., a go-ahead three-run homer from Jesse Winker and then a go-ahead two-run homer from Eddie Rosario to cap off a wild afternoon on South Capitol Street.

"It's been cool, man. It's really cool to see," said Winker, part of a club that now has a major league-leading 12 come-from-behind wins. "I'm going to use this word: It's inspiring to watch. It gives you energy."

To the eye, the Nationals have played better defense this season, whether in the form of above-average plays in the infield, strong throws from the outfield or improved work behind the plate.

The metrics don’t quite see as much improvement yet.

The Nats enter today with minus-14 Defensive Runs Saved, which ranks 26th out of 30 major league clubs, according to Sports Info Solutions. They rate better in FanGraphs’ overall defensive metric, checking in at 19th in the majors.

The most encouraging sign of improvement is in the old-fashioned department of errors: The Nationals have been charged with only 14 of them this season (tied for fifth-fewest in the majors), and that includes the four errors they committed during Saturday’s ugly 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays.

“Just one of those days,” manager Davey Martinez said afterward. “We’ve been playing really good defense, and I harp on it all the time. Today just wasn’t that day.”

The Nationals didn’t get over the .500 hump Saturday, but they still have a shot at another series win this afternoon. (Weather permitting, of course, because the forecast again calls for on-and-off rain pretty much all day.)

It’ll be MacKenzie Gore on the mound, seeking his first win since April 13 despite the fact he’s pitched quite well. The left-hander has given up a total of six runs over his last three starts, but the Nationals have scored a total of five runs in those games, leaving him to take three hard-luck losses in a row. Perhaps Gore’s fortunes will change this afternoon.

The Nats will try to do some damage against an opposing starter for the first time in a week. That opposing starter is Alek Manoah, who finally makes his 2024 debut after a weird stretch to say the least. A Cy Young Award finalist in 2022, Manoah struggled to a 5.87 ERA in 19 starts last season, at which point the Blue Jays sent him to the minors (not Triple-A, but all the way down to the Florida Complex League). He came back this spring hoping to get back on track, then he landed on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder issue. Now he’s finally ready to pitch in the big leagues again, and who knows what to expect from him in this one?

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 67 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
CF Jacob Young
SS CJ Abrams
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Nick Senzel
LF Jesse Winker
1B Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
RF Eddie Rosario
3B Trey Lipscomb

When Jake Irvin last took the mound on Monday, the Nationals ended the day with a .500 record for the first time this late in the season since they were 40-40 entering July 2, 2021. Since then, they have had three chances to get above .500 for the first time since July 1, 2021, including today after last night’s comeback win over the Blue Jays.

So when Irvin took the mound on a cold and damp day at Nationals Park, the Nats must have liked their chances to finally post a record with more wins than losses.

But the Nats defense, which entered the day tied for the second-fewest errors committed in the major leagues, was as sloppy as the weather, handing the Blue Jays an early lead in an eventual 6-3 loss in front of 22,836 fans who endured the elements for “Star Wars” Weekend on South Capitol Street.

The sloppy play began right from the get-go, when Blue Jays leadoff hitter George Springer grounded to Nick Senzel but ended up on second base thanks to a throwing error by the Nats' third baseman. The throw one-hopped Trey Lipscomb, who didn’t do Senzel any favors by stopping the ball while making his third big league appearance at first base.

“It was a little wet. I didn't really have a good grip and didn't make too good of throws," Senzel said after finishing the game with two errors. "It sucks making two errors and not playing good defense behind Irv because he threw the ball well. It's not a great feeling.”

Jacob Young is available off the bench for Saturday’s game after departing in the top of the fifth inning of Friday’s 9-3 victory over the Blue Jays.

While batting leadoff and playing center field, Young was 1-for-2 with a leadoff double in the third, coming around to score the Nats’ first run of the night, but was replaced two innings later by Jesse Winker with back spasms, manager Davey Martinez confirmed after the game.

The 24-year-old outfielder was seen in the Nats clubhouse this afternoon coming back from the batting cages with his bat and gloves, presumably taking swings to test out his back. Although he’s not in the starting lineup, with Alex Call taking over in center field and CJ Abrams bumped back up to the leadoff spot, Martinez said Young should be available to either pinch-hit or pinch-run.

“He's better today. He's better,” Martinez said of Young. “He'll be available, maybe, to come off the bench. Pinch-hit or pinch-run or something. But he's doing better.”

Even though Young is feeling better, Martinez did not play with the idea of putting him back in the starting lineup today.

May the Fourth be with you!

The Nationals continue celebrating “Star Wars” Weekend today with their second game against the Blue Jays. The first 15,000 fans at today’s game will receive an X-Wing Pilot Kyle Finnegan bobblehead while entering the gates.

Once again, the Nats have an opportunity to get over .500 for the first time since July 1, 2021, thanks to last night’s dramatic comeback victory. A win today and a Mets loss tonight against the Rays would also move the Nats into third place in the National League East.

Jake Irvin makes his seventh start of the season, looking to follow up a strong outing Monday in Miami in which he gave up two runs in six innings. It was Irvin’s team-high third-quality start of the year, all three of which have come over his last four outings. He’ll continue to try to get deep in the game after completing six innings in four of his six starts.

Kevin Gausman starts for the Blue Jays. After finishing third in last year’s American League Cy Young Award voting, the right-hander has struggled to start this season, going 1-3 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.357 WHIP. His strikeout numbers have come down after leading the AL with an 11.5 K/9 rate in 2023 and posting only a 7.4 rate over his first six starts. He has, however, been pitching better of late, beating the Dodgers with seven innings of one-run ball in his last start.

CJ Abrams’ eyes lit up as he prepared to answer a question about his favorite play from Friday night’s game.

“Favorite was the infield in, play at home,” he said with a wide smile. “For sure.”

Hard to argue with his thinking on that one.

With the Nationals trailing 3-1 in the top of the fourth, the Blue Jays’ Ernie Clement tripled to right-center. Unable to concede any more runs at that point, Davey Martinez had the infield play in against George Springer, hoping Patrick Corbin might somehow get the perennial All-Star to hit the ball sharply on the ground to someone.

That someone was Abrams, who had only a split-second to react to Springer’s 107.1 mph scorcher to his left. He made the play, spun around and then fired a strike to Riley Adams, who tagged Clement at the plate for a huge out.

Asked this afternoon about the new-look lineup he put together after his Nationals were held to two total runs the previous three days, Davey Martinez smirked.

"The definition of insanity, right?" the manager said. "Hey, I'm going to try to do something."

That new look – Jacob Young leading off, ahead of CJ Abrams – did produce the Nats’ first run of the night against the Blue Jays. But it was Martinez’s other big decision later in the evening that paid off the most.

With his offensively challenged team desperately needing runs in bunches, Martinez sent Luis García Jr. to the plate to pinch-hit for Trey Lipscomb with two on in the bottom of the seventh. Seconds later, García was circling the bases to flashing red stadium lights, his three-run homer giving the Nationals a lead they ultimately expanded into a much-needed, 9-3 victory over Toronto.

"It's hard to explain with words the emotions that run through you," said García, who is now batting .300 with an .800 OPS, via interpreter Octavio Martinez.

The Nationals’ run-starved lineup should get a couple of veterans back in the coming days.

First baseman Joey Gallo is scheduled to begin what should be a brief rehab assignment Saturday at Single-A Fredericksburg. Outfielder Victor Robles, meanwhile, continues on his rehab assignment at Triple-A Rochester and appears close to rejoining the big league club.

Gallo, out since April 27 with a sprained left shoulder, is ready to start playing in minor league games a week later. He has already taken swings in the cage and is now prepared to face live pitching in a game.

Gallo is eligible to come off the 10-day injured list on Tuesday, so if all goes well he should be activated in time for the Nationals’ series opener against the Orioles that night. The 30-year-old was off to a miserable start to his season, batting .122 with three homers, five RBIs and 43 strikeouts in 91 plate appearances, but his presence would still be a boost to a Nats lineup that has scored only two runs in its last three games.

Robles is set to play in his fourth rehab game tonight for Triple-A Rochester, batting leadoff and starting in center field. The 26-year-old suffered a hamstring strain April 3 and has been on the IL since. He’s 3-for-10 with a triple and two RBIs so far on rehab.