Bats go silent as Nats get swept in Toronto (updated)

TORONTO – The Nationals’ season-opening schedule, with four straight matchups against likely contenders, didn’t look kind on paper. It hasn’t looked kind in practice, either.

The Nats needed a win Sunday to avoid getting swept by the Phillies. They found themselves right back in the same position today against the Blue Jays, with perhaps their first favorable pitching matchup of the young season to hold their hats on.

That matchup didn’t even help. The Nationals couldn’t touch fill-in Toronto starter Easton Lucas, while MacKenzie Gore couldn’t duplicate his efforts from an Opening Day gem. The end result: a lackluster 4-2 loss and a demoralizing three-game sweep at Rogers Centre.

"The at-bats have to get better early in games," manager Davey Martinez said. "We talk about scoring first and trying to get on the starters early. And it just hasn't happened. Late in the games, we've been swinging the bats good. But there's nine innings. We've got to come out swinging from the get-go."

One week into a season of promise, the Nats are 1-5. They’ve gotten decent starting pitching. They’ve hit more homers than in recent years. Keibert Ruiz (who recorded another hit today) and CJ Abrams (who homered again today) have looked great. But they need more than that. And they haven’t gotten more. The challenge doesn’t get any easier, with the Diamondbacks and Dodgers coming to D.C. over the next week.

"Obviously we have over 100 baseball games left," designated hitter Josh Bell said. "And it's not a matter of if we get hot. It's a matter of when. Hopefully, it starts this weekend. ... If we can get hot against some of the best teams, it'll carry over against the teams we know we should beat."

Today’s offensive effort included five hits, three of them coming with two outs in the ninth, and two walks. This despite the presence of an unknown, relatively unaccomplished opposing starter.

Lucas wasn’t even supposed to start this game, the Blue Jays planning to use him out of the bullpen instead. Each of his previous 14 big league appearances (12 of them with the Athletics and Tigers) came in relief, and his career ERA stood at a hefty 9.82 when he took the mound this afternoon.

Manager John Schneider, though, said he thought the 28-year-old left-hander matched up well with the Nationals lineup, and he wasn’t wrong. Lucas allowed only three batters to reach base over five scoreless innings, none of them advancing beyond first base.

"Obviously, the results weren't there," said Bell, whose ninth-inning dribbler accounted for only his second hit of the season. "He had good angle, decent cut to his fastball. I felt like he located his off-speed pitches a little better than what we expected. I felt like he commanded that splitter a little better than he has shown in the past. But sometimes you just have to tip your cap and understand that he beat us today."

And though Abrams did greet reliever Brendon Little with a leadoff homer in the sixth, the Blue Jays bullpen barely broke a sweat until the ninth to finish off the victory and the sweep.

The Nationals didn’t want to be asking Gore to stop the bleeding this afternoon. But if someone had to be tasked with that assignment, he’s the guy they wanted on the mound.

The Nats hoped for a repeat of Gore’s Opening Day performance. They instead got something that resembled his more erratic outings of the past, though to his credit he managed to minimize the damage and at least give his teammates a chance.

Gore enjoyed only one clean inning, otherwise forced to deal with traffic on the bases throughout his five frames. The Blue Jays got to him for a run in the first (via back-to-back two-out hits), a run in the fourth (via George Springer’s homer to left) and another in the fifth (via a sacrifice fly.)

"I felt good going in," Gore said. "I just did not execute well with two strikes."

It could’ve been a lot worse if not for some stellar defense, most notably by Dylan Crews. One day after getting benched for the first time this season, he returned to the lineup and shifted to center field for the first time this season. The rookie looked extremely comfortable there, even if he remains in search of his first hit of 2025.

Crews nearly made a spectacular catch of Myles Straw’s drive to deep right-center, the ball popping out of his glove as he crashed into the fence. No problem, because Crews still teamed up with Amed Rosario and Ruiz for a perfectly executed relay that nailed Ernie Clement at the plate. Moments later, Crews did complete a spectacular catch, charging hard to his right and in to make a diving stab of Bo Bichette’s sinking liner to end the inning.

"You want to do everything you can for your pitcher and for your guys, just to kind of build momentum for them," said Crews, who is now 0-for-18 at the plate. "I was just trying to make a play. We were fortunate to get the guy at home the play before that. And I just got a good jump on the next play."

Gore also came through with a big pitch to end his day, getting Tyler Heineman to pop out and strand the bases loaded. He walked off the mound having thrown 95 pitches over five innings, but in keeping Toronto to only three runs despite nine hits, he did show some resolve.

"There was traffic," he said. "We had an opportunity to really salvage it. We kept us in the game. And look, as frustrating as this series was, we were a hit away in all three."

It might have been a different story had Gore’s teammates supplied him with any run support. There was no run support today, though, not against the unheralded Toronto starter. There was one last-ditch attempt to rally with two outs in the ninth against closer Jeff Hoffman, with James Wood singling to center, Nathaniel Lowe driving an RBI double down the right field line and Bell sending a little dribbler down the third base line to keep the game alive.

But Jacob Young, pinch-running for Bell and representing the tying run, was thrown out trying to steal second and get himself into scoring position for Alex Call, who never got a chance to swing before the game ended.

"In that situation right there, he's got to be 100 percent sure he can make it," Martinez said. "I don't mind it. Alex is a good hitter. A base hit right there, we tie the game and it's the bottom of the ninth inning. But he's got to understand that he's 100 percent sure he can make it."