Nationals find some offense in a pinch, roll past Blue Jays -

Before his team’s 9-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, Nationals Manager Dave Martinez was asked why he reshuffled his lineup ahead of the series opener. His response was blunt.

“Definition of insanity, right?” Martinez said.

The definition of insanity Martinez was referencing is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The Nationals came into Friday’s game with an offense that produced just two runs while dropping two of three in Texas. The team was scoring just 3.84 runs per game. So Martinez was desperate to jolt his offense.

The pregame changes had little effect. The in-game moves, however, were another story. The Nationals spent six innings scuffling against Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi, producing just one run on six hits. But when Toronto lifted him to start the seventh, the hits started coming and the wheels started spinning.

The Nationals put their first two hitters on to start the seventh — a walk to Ildemaro Vargas and a single from Riley Adams — before Martinez went to his bench, pinch-hitting Luis García Jr. for Trey Lipscomb.

García smoked the first pitch he saw on a line over the fence in center field, a go-ahead three-run homer that sent the Nationals’ dugout into a frenzy as García clenched his fists rounding first base.

“It’s hard to explain with words the emotions that run through you,” García said.

García had just finished taking swings in the cage and wasn’t trying to be overly aggressive. But when reliever Erik Swanson left a splitter up, García couldn’t resist. García lost the ball in the light as it carried. He found it again as center fielder Daulton Varsho jumped in vain at the wall trying to reel it in.

“That was electric,” shortstop CJ Abrams said. “Luis, big situation. He had the [guts] to get it done, and he did it.”

“You look at everything before the game and try to see where a good spot is for all these guys,” Martinez said. “That was a good spot. … I thought if we were ever going to score some runs, it’d be right now, plus we had the top of the order coming up. It worked out.”

From there, Nick Senzel tacked on an RBI double three batters later to pad the Nationals’ lead. Washington (16-16) then added four more runs in the eighth thanks to two errors from the Blue Jays (15-18). Eight of the nine starters for the Nationals finished with at least one hit.

García has been one of the team’s best hitters in the first five weeks of the season, showing growth at the plate and in the field. But Martinez opted not to start him against the left-hander Kikuchi — García is a career .275 hitter against righties but .244 against lefties.

So Martinez’s original lineup had Jacob Young — who has primarily been the team’s nine-hole hitter — playing center and batting leadoff while Abrams moved down to the No. 2 spot. It also included both Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams, the team’s regular catching tandem. It even had Vargas, the team’s utility infielder, playing left field because he was the only hitter other than Young who entered Friday’s game hitting over .300.

But through six innings, the offense was continuing a fruitless search for a key hit — the only dent against Kikuchi was an RBI single from Abrams in the third.

Patrick Corbin allowed three runs in the second inning, giving up a two-run double to Varsho, who scored on a sacrifice fly from George Springer. Corbin was effective otherwise, completing six innings, getting groundball outs and retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced. But he left trailing 3-1.

Fortunately for the Nationals, Swanson replaced Kikuchi in the seventh — and the Nationals found their offense.

In the four-run eighth, García worked a seven-pitch walk, and his excitement about that sequence postgame provided even more insight into the growth of the 23-year-old second baseman. The Nationals have preached patience at the plate with him. The walk showed the lessons are starting to stick.

“Whether you want me to believe it or not, I actually was happier about the walk than I was about the home run in that moment,” García said.

Here’s what else to know about the Nationals’ win:

Injury updates

Josiah Gray will throw his first bullpen session since he went on the injured list April 10 with a strained right flexor muscle near his forearm. Martinez was hesitant to look too far ahead toward a potential rehab assignment for the 26-year-old righty, instead focusing on Gray’s first bullpen session and making sure he leaves it healthy.

“We’re going to make sure that he’s 100 percent,” Martinez said. “When he throws these bullpens, we’ll see how he really feels. … I’m going to love when he comes back because he’s a competitor and I love seeing him out there, but I want to make sure we do the right thing for him and for this organization.” …

First baseman Joey Gallo (AC sprain in his left shoulder) and left-handed reliever Robert Garcia (flu) will begin rehab assignments with low Class A Fredericksburg on Saturday. Garcia will throw more than one inning. Victor Robles (left hamstring strain) is continuing his rehab stint with Class AAA Rochester. …

Lane Thomas (left MCL sprain) has started taking dry swings — swinging a bat without hitting baseballs, while lefty Jose A. Ferrer is throwing from 60 feet as he rehabs from a strain of his right teres major muscle. …

Young exited the game in the fifth with back spasms and did not return.

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