It’s been nearly three weeks since the Toronto Blue Jays last won a series.

On their west coast road trip, the Blue Jays managed to take two of three against former Blue Jay Matt Chapman and the San Francisco Giants. Unfortunately, they dropped two of three against the Padres heading into the All-Star break. The reset didn’t help, losing their first three series and going 3-7 in that span.

Well, they won the first game of a series for the first time since the break, giving them two cracks to win the series ahead of August 3rd’s trade deadline. It won’t be easy though, as the Jays face the high-octane Washington Nationals again.

No team in Major League Baseball has scored more than the 2019 World Series champions, crossing the plate 586 times, 30 more runs than the next best team. Despite that, the Blue Jays held the Nats to just two runs on Monday, even with Max Scherzer starting the game and running into trouble.

This time around, the Jays start a hot pitcher in Shane Bieber. After most of his first half of the season was washed away due to an injury, Bieber struggled for the first few starts before providing the Blue Jays some much needed length. Over his last two starts, Bieber has hurled 13 innings, giving up one run, walking two, and striking out nine.

With the trade deadline less than a week away, Bieber’s performance will dictate how much the Blue Jays get for him if or when they trade him. Probably the latter. Barring winning their remaining five games before the deadline, the 49-58 Blue Jays will sell off expiring contract, and Bieber is one of them.

It’s unlikely that the Blue Jays’ offence suddenly figures it out, but they’ll have a chance to do so against the Cade Cavalli on Tuesday evening. With a right-handed pitcher on the mound, the Blue Jays have a good balance of left-handed and right-handed batters.

Leading off is lefty Yohendrick Piñango, followed by another lefty in Nathan Lukes. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. bats third, followed by George Springer and switch-hitting catcher Brandon Valenzuela. Daulton Varsho, another player who may be traded ahead of next Monday’s deadline, bats sixth.

The bottom third is comprised of Ernie Clement, Andrés Giménez, and Luis Urías. Clement is on a three-game hitting streak, compiling three hits against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday. The following day, Giménez manged to get three hits as well. Urías was acquired to be a left-handed pitching masher, but his home run on Monday against a right-handed pitcher sees him draw into the lineup.

Let’s set up Tuesday evening’s game against the Nationals!

Toronto Blue Jays – Shane Bieber: 2-1 record, 4.70 ERA, 30.2 IP, 22 SO, 12 BB

Washington Nationals – Cade Cavalli: 7-4 record, 3.58 ERA, 110.2 IP, 127 SO, 34 BB