Mizzou Baseball in the Majors

■ Scherzer leads climbing Tigers into Toronto (mlb.com)

In the series opener against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, Max Scherzer gets the ball for a club that has won five of six games against the Indians and Royals but still trails the Twins in the American League Central by nine games.

Scherzer gives them a reason to feel good crossing the border.

The 26-year-old right-hander has a 1.35 ERA in his past five starts, and a 2.05 ERA if you go back all the way to June 10. Since June 4, in fact, his ERA has dropped from 6.66 to the 3.73 mark he sports heading into Toronto.

His last time on the mound, Scherzer gave up two runs (only one of them earned) in seven innings against the Indians.

So what's changed?

"Right now, I'm executing pitches," Scherzer said after his last start. "Everybody wants to look at the difference between now and then, but I'm not. I'm going out there pitching. Next start I have is against Toronto. I'm going to go out there and try to execute as many pitches as I can and hopefully give the team a chance to win."