Max Scherzer was lit up in his last start for the Texas Rangers, and on Tuesday, he had to be taken out after 5 ⅓ innings due to an injury. 

It was a sequence of events in the sixth inning that seemed to lead to discomfort, which was reported as a right triceps spasm by the Dallas Morning News, for the former Mets pitcher during his start against the Blue Jays.

Outfielder George Springer hit a bouncing comebacker right to Scherzer that forced the hurler to distort his body to try and get out of the way. 

Then, on the next pitch with Bo Bichette at the plate, Scherzer appeared to grimace on a follow-through.

Scherzer attempted to throw some warmup pitches, but he eventually left the game with head trainer Matthew Lucero. 

Righty Jose Leclerc came in for Scherzer to finish out the inning as the Rangers led 3-0.

Scherzer allowed three hits and a walk while striking out two before he left the game, lowering his ERA and WHIP to 3.77 and 1.12, respectively. 

Since being acquired by the Rangers before the trade deadline from the Mets, the 39-year-old has a 3.20 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 45 innings.

Tuesday’s start proved to be better than his last start on Sept. 6 against former teammate Justin Verlander when he was shelled for seven runs on six hits, which included three homers.

He’s been in the thick of a pennant race, and Tuesday night’s game proved to be another big one for Texas.

The Rangers entered Tuesday’s game two games back of the Houston Astros for the American League West lead and a mere 1/2 game in front of the Seattle Mariners for the final wild card spot in the AL. 

Texas has two more games against Toronto, which came into Tuesday as the second wild card team, before traveling to Cleveland for a three-game set over the weekend.