Alejandro Kirk had three hits and three RBIs, right-hander Chris Bassitt pitched eight shutout innings and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the visiting Washington Nationals 7-0 on Wednesday afternoon.
Bassitt (13-7) allowed three hits and one walk while striking out three.
Santiago Espinal added two hits and two RBIs for the Blue Jays in the deciding game of a three-game series. Espinal was playing third base with Matt Chapman (finger) on the injured list. Ernie Clement had two hits and one RBI while playing shortstop in place of injured Bo Bichette (quadriceps).
Joey Meneses had two hits for the Nationals, who finished 5-4 on a road trip to face the New York Yankees, Miami Marlins and Blue Jays.
Washington left-hander Patrick Corbin (9-12) allowed six runs, 10 hits and one walk with five strikeouts in five-plus innings.
Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Davis Schneider walked with one out and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. extended his hit streak to 11 games with a single to left. After a double steal, Kirk hit a two-run double to left field.
Bassitt retired nine straight batters before allowing a two-out walk and a single in the fourth.
Kirk led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, took third on a single from Clement and scored on Espinal’s single. Cavan Biggio increased the lead to 4-0 one batter later with a sacrifice fly to center.
Washington’s Jacob Young doubled in the fifth but Bassitt picked him off second. Bassitt did not record a strikeout until CJ Abrams went down swinging to lead off the sixth.
Kirk led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, took third on Daulton Varsho’s double and scored on a Clement single. Andres Machado replaced Corbin and gave up an RBI single by Espinal. Machado finished the inning with a strikeout and a double-play grounder.
Schneider led off the Toronto seventh with a walk against Machado, moved to third base on Whit Merrifield’s single and came home on Kirk’s sacrifice fly.
In his major league debut, Toronto’s Mason McCoy struck out as a pinch hitter in the eighth and played shortstop ninth.
Jay Jackson pitched around two singles in the ninth for Toronto.
–Field Level Media
