BALTIMORE — As the rain poured with no signs of abating Tuesday afternoon and the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles discussed whether to postpone the night’s game, Max Scherzer made one demand of John Schneider.

“It was,” the manager recalled, “‘make sure you call me at this time when you know, so I can either turn it on or turn it off.”

The day’s relentless downpour meant Scherzer turned his legendary intensity off, flipping back on Wednesday in the first half of a split doubleheader, when not even the future Hall of Famer could prevent his team’s inevitable elimination from the wild-card chase in a 4-2 defeat.

Loss No. 81 was in many ways a microcosm of this star-crossed season for the defending American League champions, failing to execute on a delayed double steal that allowed the Orioles to swipe a run in the second while going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position before finally breaking through on Brandon Valenzuela’s RBI single in the sixth, finishing 1-for-14 overall.

An offence that began the day tied for 28th in runs scored has........

© Sportsnet