Washington Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin had allowed fewer than four innings just once this season, until the Blue Jays came to town on Friday night.
Washington Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin had allowed fewer than four innings just once this season, until the Blue Jays came to town on Friday night.
They let them hang around too long. Then the roof fell in.
The Blue Jays jumped on Washington starter Patrick Corbin for three runs in the second inning. But as has too often been the case, they stopped there, leaving more than enough time for the home side to come back in dramatic fashion for a 9-3 win at Nationals Park on Friday night.
Corbin came into the game with an ugly 6.82 ERA, having been arguably the worst pitcher in the major leagues for the last four years, and the soft-tossing lefty lived down to the advance billing early. He issued a leadoff walk, then allowed back-to-back doubles to Davis Schneider and Daulton Varsho, the latter scoring a pair, in the second inning. A couple of batters later, George Springer’s sacrifice fly to left scored Varsho and the Jays had a 3-0 lead.
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But somehow the Jays let Corbin find his footing before he called it a day after six innings. It was only the second time in seven starts this season that Corbin had allowed fewer than four runs.
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Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi made that three-spot stand up as long as he could, allowing one run on six hits through six strong innings while striking out seven against only one walk. But then he left and things got ugly.
Erik Swanson, who has been shaky at best since returning from the injured list 2 1/2 weeks ago, took over and had nothing.
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The right-hander, fourth in the majors with 29 holds last season, came in to face the bottom of the order and issued a walk, gave up a single and then hung a splitter that pinch-hitter Luis Garcia Jr. blasted into a dumpster holding area beyond the fence in centre-field to put the Nationals on top. It was only the second blown save by a Jays reliever this season.
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