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| George Springer hit a 3-run HR in an 8-6 loss to the Nationals |
After pulling off a win yesterday thanks to a solid effort from the bullpen and Myles Straw and Luis Urias providing the offense, the Blue Jays were looking to extend the win streak to 2 games and notch their 13th series win and 5th season series win of the season. Shane Bieber got the start with Brandon Valenzuela behind the plate. Yohendrick Pinago was in LF. Ernie Clement was at the hot corner and Andres Gimenez got the start at SS. Could the Blue Jays extend the win streak to 2 games and notch their 13th series win and 5th season series win of the season? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Nationals opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st on a bases loaded walk to Keibert Ruiz that forced in James Wood
- A batter later, Dylan Crews was forced in on a bases loaded walk to Daylen Lile
- A batter after that, CJ Abrams scored on a sac fly by Nasim Nunez
- Two batters later, Ruiz scored on a bases loaded walk to Jacob Young
- Shane Bieber pitching line: 0.2IP 1H 4R (all earned) 6BB 0K 42 pitches (16 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 3rd as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled scoring Nathan Lukes. Nationals 3B Jorbit Vivas was charged with a throwing error on the play
- The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 4th on a ground out hit by Andres Gimenez that scored Brandon Valenzuela
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was removed from the game prior t-o the start of the bottom of the 4th with hamstring tightness
- The Nationals added a run in the bottom half of the inning as Luis Garcia Jr. whacked a 2-run blast to right; also scoring Jacob Young
- Three batters later, Crews hammered a solo bomb to dead center
- The Blue Jays got one back in the top of the 5th as Kazuma Okamoto hammered a solo bomb to dead center
- The Nationals added a run in the bottom half of the inning on a sac fly by Young that scored Liles
- Cade Cavalli pitching line: 6IP 6H 3R (2 earned) 2BB 3K 98 pitches (64 for strikes)
- The Blue Jays got 3 back in the top of the 8th as George Springer hammered a 3-run bomb to straightaway center; also scoring Okamoto and Lukes
- Clayton Beeter pitched a perfect 9th for his 11th save of the season
- Final score: Nationals 8 Blue Jays 6
- Shane Bieber was lit up for 4 runs on a hit while walking 6 and striking out none. He had absolutely no command of his pitches today and could be a real risk for someone who tries to acquire him at the deadline since he as been struggling all season with command. At the same time, he won the Cy Young award in 2020 and that will be attractive.
- The bullpwn gave up 4 runs on 7 hits while walking 2 and striking out 6. The two relievers, who are partially responsible for the Blue Jays being in the position they are with with 6 blown saves between them, Jeff Hoffman and Brendon Litlle threw a combined 3.1 innings and struck out 6 batters. I can see CJ Van Eik being optioned tomorrow since he obviously won't be available after throwing 69 pitches.
- The offence tried to do its part with George Springer hitting a huge 3-run bomb to dead center to put the Blue Jays within a pair of runs and 6 outs to work with. Alas, the next 6 batters went down in order. Kazuma Okamoto also went deep in his first AB after taking over for Vlad, who exited the game prior to the bottom of the 4th after tweaking his hamstring running the bases in the 3rd inning.
- The Blue Jays were 1-2 on ABS challenges and the Nationals were 2-1 on ABS challenges
- The Blue Jays were 1-6 with runners in scoring position
- Up next, the Blue Jays try to end the road trip with a win and notch their 13th series win and 5th season series win of the season. Trey Yesavage starts against Nationals righty Zack Littell
