Blue Jays sweep Nationals to finish off encouraging 5-2 season-opening home stand

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Apparently, getting an opportunity to open a season at home for the first time in three years has served the Blue Jays well.

There was a sweep, capped off by Wednesday afternoon’s stress-free 4-2 win over the Washington Nationals.

There was a four-game winning streak (alive and potentially counting), something the team managed just four times last season.

And there was some solid contributions from the bottom of the lineup as big hitters Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander wait to heat up.

It all added up to a 5-2 record as the team finished up the home stand by taking all three from their underwhelming National League foe. And that’s a mark that manager John Schneider and just about anyone associated with the team would have immediately signed off on given the desire to quickly expectorate the taste of a 74-88 last-place 2024 season.

Sure, the last three games were against a not-exactly-menacing Nationals opponent, but the Jays managed a split with the Orioles before that and are feeling pretty good about themselves heading into Thursday’s day off.

On Wednesday, the home squad got a perhaps unexpected bonus from lefty Easton Lucas, who in appreciation of his first career start gave the Jays five scoreless innings while allowing just one hit and a pair of walks.

The offence, meanwhile continues to surge from perhaps unexpected sources. George Springer, so maligned for his dreadful spring training performance, continued his heat at the plate, rocking a solo homer to left field in the fourth to stake the Jays to a 2-0 lead.

The Jays opened the scoring in the first on an RBI single from red-hot cleanup hitter Andres Gimenez and never trailed over the meek Nationals. They certainly showed their opportunistic side once again, taking advantage of some shoddy play in the field by Washington defenders.

The performance of Lucas, who started four times in spring training and was groomed for this possibility, was of particular significance. With Max Scherzer on the shelf with thumb issues, the Jays are going to need some rotational depth, and the 28-year-old California native provided it at first asking.

And to finish it off, new closer Jeff Hoffman earned his third save in his many tries but allowed a run on three Washington hits in the ninth.