{"id":8279,"date":"2026-07-29T05:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8279"},"modified":"2026-07-29T05:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:36:18","slug":"nationals-hang-on-to-beat-blue-jays-stay-in-wild-card-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8279","title":{"rendered":"Nationals hang on to beat Blue Jays, stay in wild-card hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington survives shaky relief to move within one game of Arizona for the last National League berth.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Trump set to unveil Dulles makeover after months of personal edits<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Dylan Crews returns to the dugout after his fourth-inning home run Tuesday night. (Jamie Sabau\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

To even this series against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Washington Nationals used patience. After waiting out a 1-hour 7-minute rain delay, the Nationals drew six walks in the first inning, scoring four runs on just one hit.<\/p>\n

They kept that offensive momentum going and avoided what almost became another bullpen meltdown in an 8-6 victory at Nationals Park. The Nationals are one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third National League wild-card spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of highs and lows tonight,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said. \u201cReally good vibes in the clubhouse. Obviously we understand meaningful games going into late July and August. Each win just feels like it means more and more every time out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Jays right-hander Shane Bieber hasn\u2019t had the smoothest season \u2014 the former Cy Young winner spent the first three months on the injured list with elbow inflammation. Even so, he was coming off a start in which he allowed one run without a walk over seven innings.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, though, he struggled locating pitches, and Washington took full advantage. In the first inning, James Wood and Dylan Crews walked, and CJ Abrams legged out a soft groundball for an infield single that withstood a Toronto challenge. That loaded the bases with one out, and Keibert Ruiz and Daylen Lile also walked to bring in two runs.<\/p>\n

Nasim Nu\u00f1ez\u2019s sacrifice fly made it 3-0, and after two more walks by Jorbit Vivas and Jacob Young, Bieber\u2019s day was done after 42 pitches. It was the most walks in one inning since the Nationals started play in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they did a really good job, with Woody setting the tone there, of noticing that Bieber maybe didn\u2019t have the command that he normally has,\u201d Butera said. \u201cThey were really patient and waited for a really good pitch to hit, they weren\u2019t trying to do too much, especially when we got bases loaded in that spot there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cade Cavalli, meanwhile, pitched six innings for the fourth start in a row. He allowed three runs \u2014 one apiece in the third, fourth and fifth innings \u2014 but otherwise mitigated traffic without allowing any additional damage. Typically a strikeout pitcher, he had 10 groundball outs, a career high.<\/p>

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\u201cThe sinker and the spin was working well tonight,\u201d Cavalli said. \u201cI guess we were getting a lot of groundballs and [the defense] was just making pays. I\u2019m just super happy they were doing that and looking forward to capitalizing on that in the next start.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
The teams weathered a rain delay of just more than an hour before play began. (Nick Wass\/Ap Photo\/Nick Wass)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The Nationals gave him more run support. After Young walked in the fourth inning, Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. and Crews hit back-to-back home runs to make it 7-3. Young added a sacrifice fly an inning later.<\/p>\n

Crews\u2019s long ball came off right-hander CJ Van Eyk, an encouraging sign for him. The 24-year-old had struggled against righties this season, hitting just .174 vs. .338 against lefties. He has focused on swinging at the right pitches and sticking to the plan against righties.<\/p>\n

But as has been the story of the 2026 Nationals, they couldn\u2019t get through the game without a little bit of bullpen drama. Gus Varland, who was recalled from Class AAA Rochester on Tuesday afternoon, took the mound in the eighth inning, his first major league appearance in a month.<\/p>\n

Before the game, Butera noted that it was the right time to bring back Varland after he showed an uptick in velocity and strikeouts while with Rochester. But his success didn\u2019t translate to the majors \u2014 he gave up a three-run homer to George Springer and was removed without recording an out.<\/p>\n

With the Nationals\u2019 lead cut to 8-6, Orlando Ribalta took over. He struck out two batters and retired the side in the eighth, and Clayton Beeter pitched a clean ninth for his 11th save.<\/p>\n

Note<\/b>: The Nationals are planning to activate Trevor Williams on Wednesday, Butera said. Williams, who had an internal brace procedure in his right elbow last July, is expected to be used out of the bullpen.<\/p>

Read more Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn $83 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll case<\/a><\/p>\n

Varland was optioned after the game to clear a roster spot.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington survives shaky relief to move within one game of Arizona for last National League berth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNationals hang on to beat Blue Jays, stay in wild-card hunt - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8279\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nationals hang on to beat Blue Jays, stay in wild-card hunt - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington survives shaky relief to move within one game of Arizona for last National League berth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8279\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-29T05:36:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1c5fbd220eec4b805270dfd2c1fe03c4-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Nationals hang on to beat Blue Jays, stay in wild-card hunt\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-29T05:36:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279\"},\"wordCount\":788,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ff47dc0c86b17200cc92bcf1ea193ba3-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279\",\"name\":\"Nationals hang on to beat Blue Jays, stay in wild-card hunt - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ff47dc0c86b17200cc92bcf1ea193ba3-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-29T05:36:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8279#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ff47dc0c86b17200cc92bcf1ea193ba3-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ff47dc0c86b17200cc92bcf1ea193ba3-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 28: Dylan Crews #3 of the Washington Nationals celebrates in the dugout after hitting a home run in the fourth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Nationals Park on July 28, 2026 in Washington, DC. 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