Nats dominated by Jays 8-0 in series finale

The Nationals won nine consecutive series behind an explosive offense and stingy pitching. Tonight, they had neither while falling to the Blue Jays 8-0 and dropping their second straight series.

With Stephen Strasburg and Doug Fister on the disabled list, Nationals manager Matt Williams turned to right-hander Taylor Jordan to make a spot start tonight. It couldn't have started any worse for Jordan, who walked Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes, one of the game's most dangerous leadoff men, on four pitches. Reyes ended up scoring the first of four Blue Jays runs in the opening frame.

"During the first, for whatever reason or another I was leaving the ball up and I wasn't having movement to my pitches, probably because they were left up," Jordan said. "I got hit around a lot. After that, I mean I basically had nothing left to lose, so I just went in there and tried to go as long as they let me."

Williams ended up sticking with Jordan in an attempt to preserve the Nats bullpen, which has been worn out as of late. Jordan made it through six innings, allowing seven runs on ten hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

The early Blue Jays offense was more than enough for five-time All-Star Mark Buehrle, who shut down the Nats en route to his first complete game shutout since July of 2010.

"You can pretty much chalk it up every time when he's on," shortstop Ian Desmond said. "He works the corner. He moves the ball well. He pitches to your weakness. I think his defense plays well behind him because he is working really quick. He's been doing it for a long time. He's one of those salty vets."

Bryce Harper managed two of the six hits tonight against Buerhle as the Nationals were outscored 15-5 in the three-game interleague set.

"That's a good hitting team over there," Harper said. "They rake and everybody knows that. They put some good swings on some balls and had some timely hitting and you just gotta tip your cap to a great team over there and to Mark Buehrle."

The Nationals offense has been sputtering over the past two weeks, having scored more than three runs only twice in their last 12 games.

"You can throw that one out because Mark (Buehrle) does that," Williams said. "He throws balls down below the strike zone. It's about getting quality pitches to hit and taking advantage of opportunities. During that long stretch that we had, we really took advantage of those opportunities that were presented to us. And it hasn't been as good lately. But it could start tomorrow."