Blue Jays Pitching Strikes Out 13 in Nervous 3-2 Win

Not all wins arrive carrying proof of better days.

Some arrive with a blanket over their shoulders.

The Blue Jays beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Monday, and the most generous reading is that they did what they had to do. On the road, against the team on the schedule, they scored one more run than the other side.

That is baseball’s whole courtroom.

But there are ways to win that make a team look like it has found a pulse, and there are ways to win that make a team look like it has merely avoided the floor.

This was the second kind.

Thirteen strikeouts. Two earned runs allowed. A one-run game from the bottom of the fifth through the final zero.

A win that sounded brave and felt tired.

The strikeouts did the carrying

The pitching total is the best part of the night.

Toronto pitchers struck out 13. They allowed 2 earned runs.

If you read only that, you might imagine a clean, controlled game. A firm hand on the shoulder. A staff walking through Washington with a clear plan and dry socks.

Then the rest of the box score comes in.

The Nationals had 8 hits. They left 9 on base. The Blue Jays made 1 error. Washington made 0.

That is not a stroll.

That is crossing an icy sidewalk with groceries in both hands.

Max Scherzer returned from the 15-day injured list and gave Toronto 2.2 IP, 1 earned run, and 4 strikeouts. The 4 strikeouts are nice. The 2.2 IP is the part that sits heavily in the room.

The return was real.

So was the shortness of it.

In the bottom of the second, Luis García Jr. doubled off Scherzer on a sharp line drive to right fielder Nathan Lukes. Nasim Nuñez scored. James Wood went to third.

Washington led 1-0, and the familiar dread took its seat.

The relay race began early

After Scherzer, the night became a handoff.

Spencer Miles: 1.1 IP, 0 earned runs, 1 strikeout.

Adam Macko: 0.2 IP, 1 earned run, 1 strikeout.

Louis Varland: 1.0 IP, 0 earned runs, 2 strikeouts.

Jeff Hoffman: 1.0 IP, 0 earned runs, 3 strikeouts.

Mason Fluharty: 1.1 IP, 0 earned runs, 1 strikeout.

Tyler Rogers: 1.0 IP, 0 earned runs, 1 strikeout.

Those are useful lines. They are also a lot of names to lean on in a game where the offense topped out at 3.

Hoffman’s 3 strikeouts in 1.0 IP are the kind of thing a team gladly takes. Varland’s 2 in 1.0 IP helped keep the evening upright. Rogers gave the final 1.0 IP and let the score remain 3-2.

There is credit here.

There is also weariness.

The staff kept bailing water from a boat the lineup refused to stop drilling holes in.

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The offense built a small shelter

Toronto’s offense did not vanish.

That would be simpler to mourn.

It appeared, did exactly enough, and then left the pitching staff alone with the bill.

In the top of the third, Luis Urías homered off Eddy Yean on a fly ball to center field. That tied the game. Later in the inning, Ernie Clement doubled off Yean on a ground ball to left fielder Daylen Lile, scoring Myles Straw.

The Blue Jays had a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the fourth, Straw singled off Andrew Alvarez on a line drive to center fielder Dylan Crews. Kazuma Okamoto scored. Urías went to third.

Toronto led 3-1.

Then the scoring stopped.

In the bottom of the fifth, Andrés Chaparro homered off Adam Macko on a fly ball to left field.

The lead was 3-2, and there it stayed, not so much protected as nursed through the evening.

Urías went 1-for-2 with the homer and an RBI. Clement went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Straw went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Good.

Necessary.

Insufficient as a way of living.

The team finished with 7 hits and left 7 on base. After the fourth, there were no more Toronto runs.

That is how a 3-2 win becomes a test of lung capacity.

Momentum should feel less fragile

The standings now say 49-58, .458, 4-6 in the last ten, W1, and 5th in the division.

W1 is better than L1. This is the kind of sentence a person writes when joy has become clerical.

Through 107 games, the Blue Jays have 419 runs, 3.92 runs per game, a .242 batting average, a .682 OPS, and 105 home runs.

Monday did not argue with those numbers.

It confirmed their texture.

The Blue Jays can win a 3-2 game. They just need Scherzer to come back from the injured list, the staff to pile up 13 strikeouts, Washington to leave 9 on base, and the whole thing to balance on the edge after the fifth.

That is not momentum.

That is survival with paperwork.

Today, the Blue Jays are still in Washington. Shane Bieber is listed for Toronto. Cade Cavalli is listed for the Nationals.

Another game, because baseball does not pause to let anybody decide whether a win felt good enough.

Monday counts.

It just does not comfort.