Nationals, in thick of wild-card race, turn to hot Cade Cavalli vs. Jays

Cade Cavalli will look to continue his torrid stretch and help the Washington Nationals bounce back against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.

Toronto took the opening game of the three-game series 3-2 on Monday behind some stellar bullpen work after Max Scherzer kicked things off in his return to Nationals Park.

The Blue Jays' Shane Bieber (2-1, 4.70 ERA) will oppose fellow right-hander Cavalli (7-4, 3.58) in the middle game of the series.

Bieber, 31, will make his seventh start of the season. Over his past two efforts, he has allowed only one earned run in 13 innings. On Thursday, he gave up a run on three hits over seven innings in a 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays in one of his best outings of the season.

"That was outstanding," manager John Schneider said of Bieber's effort. "Limiting hard contact against a really good offensive team, especially the top of the order. And we played really good defense behind him."

Bieber has faced the Nationals once in his career, pitching six innings and allowing three runs on nine hits in a no-decision while a member of the Cleveland Guardians in 2023.

Cavalli is 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA, 45 strikeouts and six walks over his past six starts. Last time out, he struck out eight and pitched six scoreless innings in an 8-0 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. It was Cavalli's third straight six-inning start, and five of the past six outings have been quality starts.

"His stuff's so good," Nationals manager Blake Butera said afterward. "He's able to, it seems like, take it to a next level or another level when guys do get into scoring position, and there's running threatening. He made some big pitches for us."

Cavalli has never faced the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays helped Scherzer celebrate his 42nd birthday Monday night, though he did not pick up the individual win after allowing a run on four hits in 2 2/3 innings. He threw 75 pitches against the Nationals, whom he played for from 2015-21.

Six relievers combined to allow one run as closer Louis Varland finished -- though he made it interesting by giving up a two-out single and a walk before striking out Luis Garcia Jr. to end the game.

Luis Urias homered, Myles Straw had an RBI single and a double, and Ernie Clement doubled in a run for Toronto, which had lost seven of 10 games since the All-Star break heading into Monday's game.

"It's frustrating as heck that we're in this position, but we're professionals," Scherzer said of Toronto's last-place standing in the American League East. "We have a job to do. ... You've got to go out there and do everything you can to win, every single day. That's the mentality we have in the clubhouse, and we kind of let the other stuff just be noise."

Andres Chaparro hit a pinch-hit homer, and Garcia and Nasim Nunez had two hits each for the Nationals, who had won two straight entering the game.

Washington sits one game out of the third and final wild-card spot in the National League.

"It just felt like a night when we had opportunities and couldn't capitalize," Butera said after Washington went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. "It's frustrating doing that when the pitching's as good as it was for us tonight."

Chaparro is batting .323 (10-for-31) with five homers, eight runs and 14 RBIs across his past 14 games.

CJ Abrams -- named NL Player of the Week after going 15-for-26 (.577) with six home runs, 12 RBIs, and eight runs scored in six games -- went 0-for2 with two walks.

--Field Level Media