Easton Lucas goes 5 scoreless in first big league start as Jays beat Nats 4-2 for 3-game sweep

TORONTO (AP) — Easton Lucas allowed one hit over five scoreless innings in his first major league start, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.

It was hardly baseball weather with snow falling outside Rogers Centre, which had the roof closed for the afternoon game.

Lucas (1-0) struck out three and walked two in a composed 74-pitch outing.

Filling in for the injured Max Scherzer, the 6-foot-4 left-hander was making his 15th appearance in the majors. The 28-year-old from California appeared in two games for the Jays last season. He made 12 other appearances in 2024, split between Oakland and Detroit.

Nationals left-hander MacKenzie Gore (0-1), who struck out a career-high 13 in six scoreless innings in Washington's season opener against Philadelphia, gave up three runs on nine hits in six innings with five strikeouts.

Andres Gimenez singled home Anthony Santander for a 1-0 Jays lead in the first. Santander had doubled for his 700th career hit.

Toronto added runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

CJ Abrams homered off Jays reliever Brendon Little to open the sixth. Little, Chad Green, Yimi Garcia and Jeff Hoffman then retired 11 of the next 12 batters. Hoffman allowed a run in the ninth while picking up his third save.

Key moment

Toronto DH George Springer opened the fourth with his first homer of the season, a 368-foot drive into the Jays bullpen.

Key stat

After hitting 12 singles and nothing else Tuesday, Toronto had five extra-base hits Wednesday and outhit Washington 10-5. The Nationals scored seven runs over the three games in Toronto.

Up next

Washington hosts Arizona in a three-game series beginning Friday.

Toronto begins its first trip of the season, with 10 games in 10 days starting Friday when Kevin Gausman (1-0, 3.00 ERA) takes the mound against the New York Mets.

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