Nationals Hang on…Defeat Jays 8-6

The Washington Nationals held on for a very important victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on

a rain delayed Tuesday evening. This tied the series 1-1 with the 3rd game scheduled for

tomorrow at 1:05.

The Nationals started off strong in the bottom of the 1 st. Maybe that rain delay did them

some good. James Wood walked and got to 2nd as Luis Garcia grounded out to 1st base.

Dylan Crews also walked. CJ Abrams followed with an infield hit loading the bases.

Keibert Ruiz walked scoring Wood. Daylen Lile walked scoring Crews. Nasim Nunez then

hit a sac fly to right field scoring Abrams. Jorbit Vivas and Jacob Young both followed with

free passes scoring Ruiz. 4-0 Nats.

Starting pitcher for the Blue Jays, Shane Bieber, walked 6 batters in the 1st inning. That tied

an MLB record. He threw 42 pitches in the inning; only 15 were strikes and he recorded

only 2 outs. Bieber has been with the Blue Jays since 2025 and pitched for them in last

year’s World Series. He was recently on the 60-day injured list due to right elbow

inflammation and was activated last month. You might remember Bieber from his time

with the Cleveland Guardians. He won the Cy Young Award in 2020. He also won the

pitchers’triple crown that year leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts, in a

shortened 60-game season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Blue Jays got a run in the top of the 3rd as Yohendrick Pinango walked and went to 2nd on

a force out with Nathan Lukes ending up on 1st base. Vladimir Guerrero singled to 3 rd base

and Lukes scored on a throwing error by Jorbit Vivas. 4-1 good guys.

The Jays got a little closer in the top of the 4th. Brandon Valenzuela singled to center and

went to 3rd off a double courtesy of Daulton Varsho. Valenzuela scored on a ground out

from Andres Gimenez. 4-2 Nats.

Washington got it going in the bottom of the 4th. Jacob Young walked and came home when

Luis Garcia hit his 22nd home run to right field. Dylan Crews made it back-to-back dingers

with a home run over the center field wall, his 9th . 7-2 Nationals.

Toronto got one back in the top of the 5th off a home run by Kazuma Okamoto, his 24th. 7-3

Nats.

The Nationals answered that run with one of their own in the bottom of the inning, after

Daylen Lile singled to right and advanced to 2nd on a fielding error. Brady House’s single to

right sent Lile to 3rd , and he scored off a sac fly courtesy of Jacob Young. 8-3 Washington.

The score stayed the same until Toronto came up big in the top of the 8th. Nathan Lukes

singled to center and Kazuma Okamoto got on base due to an error by CJ Abrams. George

Springer then hit a 3-run home run to center field, his 12th. 8-6 Nats.

But the Nationals held on as Clayton Beeter pitched a scoreless 9th to wrap up the victory.

Cale Cavalli started for Washington, going 6 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs while

walking 2 and striking out 3.

A good team win. Let’s keep it going, guys.

Dave’s Dime…Recent rule changes

There have been a few major rules changes over the past six years that have had quite an

impact on Major League Baseball. Allow me to review them starting with this year and

going back to 2020.

2026 ABS Challenge System: Teams can challenge an umpire’s ball/strike call at least two

times per game. Teams retain successful challenges. Hitters, pitchers, or catchers can

challenge a pitch by tapping their helmet. I think this rule is a good one. It’s kind of funny

when a team challenges a home plate umpire like 5 times and is correct every time. Kind of

embarrassing for the ump, however.

2024 The pitch clock: Time between pitches was reduced from 20 seconds to 18 seconds

when a runner is on base. A whole 2 seconds. Okay. And the base path from home to 1st

was expanded from 18 to 24 inches in order to give the batter a more direct path to 1st base

supposedly to cut down on interference calls. I would think that would help the catcher on

bunt attempts. They wouldn’t be so prone to hitting the baserunner with their throws to 1st

.

Makes sense. 2023 Infield Shifts: No longer are teams allowed to have more than two fielders on either side of second base. Also, all infielders must be positioned on the infield dirt when the

pitch is delivered to home plate. I love this rule. It just didn’t look right having three

infielders on one side of the diamond, and one of the three in shallow right or left field, just

because a pull-hitter was at bat. Of course, I don’t know why that pull-hitter hardly ever

laid down a bunt toward the empty side of the field. But they’re up there to hit home runs,

not those supposedly unexciting bunts.

2023 The pitch clock: A pitcher must begin their pitching motion within 15 seconds after

the catcher returns the ball. That pitcher gets 20 seconds between pitches when there are

baserunners present. (Dropped to 18 seconds in 2024.) If the pitcher takes longer than the

allotted time, a ball is called. I like this rule. It speeds up the game and keeps the fielders

focused on what’s going on. No more blowing bubbles between pitches.

2023 Pickoff attempts: With a man on base, pitcher throws to any base are now limited to

two per batter. No more throwing over to 1st base ad nauseum. I like that rule, too. An

annoying habit no longer allowed.

2023 Bigger Bases: Bases were enlarged by 3 inches to 18-inch quadrilaterals. I guess this

change was made to encourage base stealing. That’s okay, but I’m worried about those

baserunner gloves getting any bigger than they are. That glove is looking more and more

like a kitchen hot pad. It’s nuts. And those gloves have no official size limit!

2022 Universal Designate Hitter: Both the American and National Leagues now have a

designated hitter who bats for the pitcher. It’s about time that happened. The American

League officially adopted the DH rule in 1973! It’s unbelievable how long it took the

National League to follow course. Now there are 15 more teams for those older players

who can’t run or field anymore but can still hit one out of the park.

2022 The Extra-Inning Runner: In an attempt to make the 26-inning game a thing of the

past, a baserunner is now placed at 2nd base for each team starting with the 10th inning.

This makes it easier for teams to score and hopefully shortens the length of games that go

beyond the 9th inning. We all love baseball, but, come on, enough is enough. The longest

extra-inning game since this rule change was first used is “only” 16 innings between the

Dodgers and Padres in August of 2022. The longest extra-inning game ever was between

the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves in 1920. It ended in a 1-1 tie after the game was

called due to darkness. What’s even crazier is that both starting pitchers threw the entire

26 innings!!!

2020 The three-batter minimum for relief pitchers: Pitchers now must pitch to a

minimum of three batters or until the end of an inning. This stops a team from bringing in a

righthanded pitcher to thrown to one righthanded batter and a lefthanded pitcher to thrown

to one lefthanded batter and …you get the idea. A great rule change.

So, there you go. Tomorrow we’ll discuss some of the proposed rule changes for the near

future.

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