TORONTO – The legacy of three active pitchers in Major League Baseball towers above the rest. 

Between them, they have combined for nine Cy Young awards and two Most Valuable Player awards, the last pitchers not named Shohei Ohtani to win that honor since Dennis Eckersley in 1992. 

They’re the only active pitchers in the game with over 200 career wins. They’re also the only trio to each accumulate over 3,000 strikeouts over their Hall of Fame careers. 

Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer have another thing in common, too: They’re the last three starters to oppose Tomoyuki Sugano. 

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Sugano is set to become the second pitcher in O’s history to face a 200-game winner in three consecutive outings, joining Dave Schmidt in 1987, who faced Bert Blyleven twice and Joe Niekro. So, Sugano will actually become the first Oriole to face three different 200-game winners consecutively. 

Today, it’ll be Scherzer on the bump for Toronto. And while “Mad Max” isn’t pumping upper 90’s fastballs like he used to, the savvy veteran still finds a way. 

“What these guys offer is pitchability,” Tony Mansolino said. “The ability to get you out, the ability to attack your weaknesses with whatever they want, really. So it is quite the challenge for a lot of hitters that spent a lot of the year in Triple-A, a lot of young guys. To see their holes and their weaknesses get exposed and see a pitcher that can actually attack it as opposed to just overpowering them in some ways.” 

One of those Triple-A hitters that will be challenged today is Dylan Beavers, bumped up to the No. 2 spot in the lineup in place of Jeremiah Jackson. 

“I think just watching JJ in the last few days, he’s had a really nice run here lately, I think giving him a blow today kind of helps him going forward the next day, right,” Mansolino said. “Just let him take a step back so we can get back to taking a few forward. 

I think for Beav today, his at-bats have been so good. I think with young hitters, when you bring them to the big leagues, I think you do the best you can to remove pressure. I think when you start moving guys to the top of the order, it does add a little bit of pressure and expectation. For Beav, I think he’s kind of proven to this point thus far that he can handle some expectations and a little bit of pressure might be a good thing for him.” 

It’s something that the young outfielder certainly appears ready for. 

Through the first 22 games of his big-league career, Beavers has hit .303 with a staggering .446 on-base percentage, good for an .870 OPS. If there are major-league jitters, you wouldn’t be able to tell from his 22 to 17 strikeout-to-walk ratio. 

“I was hitting behind Beavers yesterday, and I saw him in Triple-A a little bit this year too, and he’s got a very good eye for the strike zone,” Tyler O’Neill said of his fellow corner outfielder. “He doesn’t chase outside the zone, he’s got a nice, compact, short swing, he’s able to put the barrel to the ball. And we’re seeing it, we’re seeing it in the first 100 at-bats what he can do. So, hopefully he can carry that into the rest of this year and through into next year and really maximize his potential.” 

Where Beavers has really thrived is against fastballs. According to Statcast, the lefty is hitting a whopping .389 against the 210 heaters he’s seen, whiffing under 13 percent of the time at those offerings. 

The next step in his progression will be in seeing breaking pitches, namely sliders, curveballs and sweepers. Against the 100 breaking pitches the outfielder has seen this season, the batting average is down to .071 with a 46.7 percent whiff rate. 

“I do feel strongly that our young hitters in our group, we can really hit a heater, especially a heater over the middle part of the plate,” Mansolino said. “We never have a problem with that here. The problem here is young hitters and the pitchability type guys, and I think the whole league probably knows that. So, it’ll be another challenge for us. Got a lot of faith in our guys. At some point here, we’re going to get it going again and hopefully it’s today.” 

Kershaw and Verlander gave the Orioles fits in their two appearances, combining for 18 strikeouts and just two earned runs. Baltimore is hoping that the third member of the Hall of Fame Trio doesn’t find the same success. 

Breadcrumbs from the Skipper 

Chayce McDermott is here on the taxi squad, a potential activation before tomorrow afternoon’s contest, which doesn’t currently have a penciled in starter wearing orange. McDermott wouldn’t come up with the intent of going five innings, though. He’s worked in the bullpen in Norfolk, and found a good bit of success there. 

“For Chayce, the biggest thing in the past is, it’s never been stuff,” Mansolino said. “It’s never been his ability to throw the ball hard or spin the ball good. It’s just simply staying in the zone. So I think limiting the innings and getting in that role where you can just kind of let it rip, simplify things, attack the middle part of the plate, smaller samples I guess, so to speak.” 

Outside of a disastrous first outing for the Tides out of the ‘pen, McDermott has a 1.76 ERA in relief.