WASHINGTON -- The Washington Nationals drew six walks against former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber in a four-run first inning Tuesday night, eventually escaping with an 8-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Bieber, 31, issued walks to six of the nine batters he faced, including three with the bases loaded, before departing after two-thirds of an inning. In his previous 149 pitching appearances, the right-hander's high for walks was five.
According to ESPN Research, Bieber is only the fourth pitcher in the divisional era -- since 1969 -- to issue six walks in the first inning of a game, joining Todd Van Poppel in 1994, Ryan Dempster in 2001 and Daniel Cabrera in 2006.
After the loss, Toronto manager John Schneider mentioned that the hot weather in Washington affected Bieber, something his starter concurred with. Schneider mentioned that Bieber was "sweating a lot, which led to issues with his grip on the baseball."
"You have to find a way to get through it, right, and I wasn't able to do that tonight," said Bieber, who didn't walk anyone in his previous start Thursday, when he allowed one run in seven innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. "Ultimately, I follow up what was maybe my best start as a Blue Jay with what was definitely my worst."
Washington's James Wood led off the first with a walk, and Luis Garcia Jr. followed with a grounder to second. Dylan Crews then earned a free pass, and CJ Abrams followed with a well-placed infield single.
"I have no excuses," Bieber said. "I have to find a way to get out of that first inning. Dry my hands off and change shirts and eat up innings after that. That's what I was trying to do and unfortunately, I wasn't able to. I don't think I've ever had anything like that happen."
The typically free-swinging Keibert Ruiz followed Abrams' at-bat with a four-pitch walk that scored the first run, and Daylen Lile drew another walk that pushed in another run. Nasim Nunez hit a sacrifice fly before Jorbit Vivas loaded the bases again with the inning's fifth walk, prompting a mound visit from Toronto pitching coach Pete Walker.
Jacob Young then took six pitches --- three balls and then two called strikes followed by a slider well outside the zone --- to force in a fourth run. That prompted Schneider to head to the mound and end Bieber's outing.
It was Bieber's seventh start of the season after missing almost three months with elbow inflammation. He was limited to a combined nine regular-season starts over the previous two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2024.
"Kind of just the last thing we thought was going to happen with him right there," Schneider said. "When you get up to that pitch count in the first, with him, with his history and everything, just didn't want to push it."
Reliever Brendon Little got Wood to ground out to end the inning. But the frame set a tone for the Nationals, who kept up their charge in the fourth, receiving back-to-back home runs from Garcia and Crews.
Bieber is the first Cy Young winner to have such an outing, although Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Christy Mathewson did, too. Bieber won the American League Cy Young in 2020.
All told, he threw 42 pitches, with only 15 strikes. He is the second player this season to throw that many pitches with so few strikes. Eric Cerantola, then with the Kansas City Royals, threw 14 strikes in a 42-pitch relief outing against Tampa Bay on June 30.
The Nationals' six walks were their most in an inning since moving to Washington before the 2005 season and came on a night where their starter, Cade Cavalli (8-4), held up his end of the bargain. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- and struck out three in six innings. He is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his last four starts. Clayton Beeter pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 11th save.
In the loss, George Springer hit a three-run blast in the eighth off Gus Varland to pull the Blue Jays within 8-6. And Kazuma Okamoto hit his 24th homer to tie a franchise rookie record for Toronto.
But the Blue Jays have now lost 10 of 14 and slipped 10 games under .500, matching a season high. And to make matters worse, first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. left in the fourth inning with right hamstring tightness.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.