Nationals 8, Blue Jays 6: And Yet Dingers

 

it's probably fine

Once the hour-long rain delay (complete with tornado warnings!) was behind us, Tuesday night's game was played under skies that were "charismatic but troubled" (think Elizabeth Bishop, or Lord Byron, or Drake). Also troubled: Shane Bieber's first inning! Holy cow! Or should I say Shane Bieber's two-thirds (of a first [of an inning]), as he did not make it through the frame, walking six (six! a Blue Jays single-inning record!) of the ten batters he faced, somehow escaping, after a fashion, having allowed only four runs. After his previous two extremely Bieberesque starts, this came as a bit of a surprise; I don't think that's unfair to say. I was surprised, too, by how well the perpetually wounded (in his aspect, I mean, and I say it with all sympathy) Brandon Little fared in his two-and-a-third innings of relief right after, striking out four, and allowing neither hit nor walk as he shaved like four runs off his ERA all in one go (it could still stand to come down a bit; I'm sure he's be the first to agree). Both Fluharty and Van Eyk ran into trouble behind him, though Jeff Hoffman was great in the eighth, so a mixed bag from the bullpen, all told? Meanwhile, the Blue Jays picked away at the Nationals' early lead, scoring runs in the third (Lukes coming around on a Vladdy infield single that forced an error [more on that in a moment]), fourth (Valenzuela to the plate on a Giménez groundout), and fifth (Kazuma Okamoto tying Eric Hinske's team rookie record for home runs at twenty-four), before George Springer's three-run shot in the eighth brought us almost all the way back. Ah well! 

Of greater concern than Shane Bieber probably not helping his trade value in what one might well expect to be his final start as a Blue Jay (it's been neat having him around, and I'm really glad it happened), or the loss generally (Winning: More Fun?), to me, is the sad fact that, after legging out an infield single in the third and then cruising into second on (fine, young) shortstop C. J. Abrams' throwing error, Vladdy clearly paused in discomfort and tried to stretch something out for a sec real quick. His back, which has been troubling him for months? No, this time it was a hamstring, we learned an inning or two later (thank you, Hazel Mae). Okamoto came in to play first in his stead, and homered, so that part of things worked out reasonably well, but I would be surprised if Vladdy is in the lineup Wednesday for a day game after a (later than usual) night game in which he was taken out with "a hammy" (it saddens me a little that I cannot find on YouTube a clip of Sesame Street's Horatio [an elephant] jumping up and down [it shakes the street! he's an elephant!] and proclaiming with great enthusiasm "This really works my hammies!" but the internet really hasn't turned out the way we'd have hoped in any number of ways, and this is probably not foremost among them). Trey Yesavage on the mound as we look to win the series! Might as well! 

KS