TORONTO, ONTARIO - APRIL 1 - The Washington Nationals lost the second game in Toronto after putting together a comeback but not holding the Blue Jays lineup down late. The pitching staff did well, but a few mistakes did them in as the lineup continued to struggle with putting runs on the board.

Veteran righty Trevor Williams took the mound for Washington, with many people looking to see if he could limit the long ball, which was a huge problem for him in 2023 but not as much last year in his injury-shortened season. He did not allow any homers, or any extra-base hits for that matter. However, he allowed 10 singles across his 5.0 innings, which brought in three runs during the bottom of the second. He struck out three hitters while walking none and gave the Nationals a chance to stay in the game, but the damage was already done.

The bullpen would relieve Williams after the fifth, and Jorge Lopez would step up for Washington. He pitched a scoreless inning, striking out two while walking one. Jose A. Ferrer then relieved him and pitched a scoreless inning, only walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Davey Martinez left him out there to start the eighth inning in a tied game, and Ferrer allowed a leadoff single. That was then followed by a sacrifice bunt that he made an error on. After recording two outs, Bo Bichette hit a single that allowed two runners to score, giving the Jays a 5-3 lead. Lucas Sims would come in to record the last out, but that would be the end of the night for the Nats in the field, as they would leave with the sour taste of two unearned runs costing them the game.

Offensively, things started slow for the second night in a row. CJ Abrams, who had some amazing plays at shortstop in this game, broke up yet another no-hitter with a double in the fourth. The team did not capitalize, but that was just the beginning of their comeback efforts. With two outs in the sixth, Keibert Ruiz singled to score Jacob Young and Abrams, who had just stolen second base. With Toronto’s lead cut to one in the seventh, Alex Call and Abrams hit a pair of doubles to tie the game.

Unfortunately, the team could not fully steal the momentum by taking a lead, but seeing them fight to tie a game with 12 outs remaining is a good sign of things to come. Now, the team will look to score those runs early in the ballgame and let the bullpen work with a lead. All things considered, however, things don’t look as bad as the team record suggests.

Up next…

MacKenzie Gore will take the mound to finish the series and avoid a sweep. After that, the team will head home for a Thursday off day before facing the D-Backs from Friday to Sunday. Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, and Michael Soroka are expected to get the starts in that series, but we will see what happens with Soroka’s injury from Monday night.