The Nationals returned home for four consecutive interleague series at Nats Park, as they took two games out of three against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday (9-3) and Sunday (11-8). Interestingly enough, Washington was celebrating Star Wars Weekend at the ballpark, so you could definitely say the force was strong with this team in the series.
With the two wins, the Nationals are now back at .500 with a record of 17-17. The team is also 7-3 in their last 10 games, as the only other ballclubs with better records in their last 10 contests are the Twins (9-1), Athletics (8-2), and Dodgers (8-2).
In Washington’s win on Friday, the team overcame an early 3-0 deficit to score nine unanswered runs for the victory. The big highlight of the game was Luis Garcia Jr. pinch-hitting in the bottom of the seventh and launching a three-run homer that opened the floodgates for the 4-3 lead.
Other ways the Nats scored in that contest included C.J. Abrams’ RBI single for their first run, Nick Senzel’s RBI double right after the Garcia bomb, Jesse Winker’s line drive out with two runs scoring on a throwing error, Garcia scoring on another error, and Joey Meneses’ knock at the end.
Patrick Corbin went six innings and gave up those three Toronto runs, but the bullpen did its job as reliever Jacob Barnes was credited with the win.
On Sunday, the Nationals trailed 6-1 heading into the fourth inning, but the team was able to rally for the 11-8 win, marking the second straight Sunday where Washington came back from an early deficit of at least five runs.
Garcia had himself an even better performance as he went 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs for his second four-hit game of his career. His big hits were a home run in the third, a two-RBI single in the fourth, and a knock that tied the game at 8-8 in the sixth.
With these incredible stats in the series, Garcia is now batting .337 with a team-leading 19 RBIs on the season.
Winker also stepped up at the plate with two hits and three RBIs, as he launched a three-run homer to complete the rally attempt and put Washington ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the fourth.
However, with the game tied at 8-8 in the seventh, the player you’d least expect to come through did so as Eddie Rosario hit a 402-foot two-run home run to give the Nationals a 10-8 lead.
Meneses also batted in Washington’s first and last runs of the game, which came on a bases-loaded walk in the first inning and a sacrifice fly to center in the eighth.
Reliever Hunter Harvey was credited with his second win of 2024, while Kyle Finnegan recorded his 11th save of the year.
The Nats fell to the Blue Jays on Saturday by the score of 6-3, as Toronto’s 4-0 lead in the top of the first set the tone for who would get the advantage in the contest.
Next up, Washington will look to finally get over .500 as they host the Baltimore Orioles in a two-game Beltway Series on Tuesday and Wednesday.
