TORONTO -- The Phillies rained on a monumental moment for Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre.
Two batters after Scherzer recorded his 3,500th career strikeout and received a standing ovation in the first inning, former teammate Bryce Harper took a 94.6 mph fastball over the wall in left for an early 1-0 lead.
Philadelphia never relinquished that lead en route to a 7-4 victory and the series win in Toronto.
The offense piled on in the third when Alec Bohm hit a three-run shot to make it 4-0.
Kyle Schwarber got in on the power surge in the fourth with his MLB-leading 24th home run, a two-run blast into the seats in right-center field, off Blue Jays reliever Mason Fluharty.
Bryson Stott tacked on a run with an RBI single in the seventh to make it 7-0.
The Blue Jays would make it interesting with a run in the sixth and three in the seventh, but it was as close as they would get.
Partly overshadowed by the offensive onslaught was the stellar start by Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo.
Luzardo allowed one run on four hits over 5 2/3 innings of work. He walked four and struck out eight before being relieved by Jonathan Bowlan.
The outing followed Cristopher Sánchez’s 10-strikeout performance on Monday and Zack Wheeler’s six innings of one-run ball on Tuesday.
Luzardo’s latest start fell in line with an interesting trend that’s seen him pitch far better on the road.
Coming into action on Wednesday, he’d pitched to a 3-0 record and 1.54 ERA away from Citizens Bank Park. At home, his ERA has ballooned to 7.34 to go along with a 1-4 record.