Jun 2, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar (11) hits a single against the Washington Nationals during the fourth inning in game two of a double header at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Game 2
Tuesday’s nightcap featured a depleted Nationals’ lineup, as Matt Williams optioned to rest starters Ryan Zimmerman and Wilson Ramos, as well as Denard Span (knee). Bench players Tyler Moore, Clint Robinson, Michael Taylor, and Jose Lobaton all cracked the lineup. They, along with the rest of the Nats’ starters, did their damage in the fourth and fifth innings off Marco Estrada.
Harper and Moore led off the fourth with back-to-back doubles to put the home team up 1-0. Lobaton followed two batters later with an RBI single to right to bring home Moore. The next inning, Max Scherzer started off with a single to center, and scored four batters later on a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Tyler Moore, his second RBI of the game. The offense would remain stagnant for the rest of the game, however, and ultimately couldn’t get any sort of rally together against the Toronto bullpen.
Scherzer looked like his normal self against anyone that wasn’t Kevin Pillar, who finished 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs in the game. Overall, Max went six innings, allowing four runs on six hits. He struck out five batters and walked two on 101 pitches (69 strikes). He took the loss, but it was Blake Treinen who put the game out of reach. The Blue Jays scored three on him in the seventh, as he was only able to record two outs before being pulled. Felipe Rivero provided 1.1 innings of hitless relief and Casey Janssen worked out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the 9th to keep the score at 7-3.