A man down, back end of Nats bullpen regaining strength

PHILADELPHIA – When Carl Edwards Jr. landed on the 15-day injured list on June 21 with right shoulder inflammation, the Nationals bullpen took a hit. One of their trusted late-inning relievers wasn’t going to be available for the foreseeable future.

Down an experienced arm, the back end of the Nats bullpen was expected to falter a bit. But instead, it has continued to thrive.

Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey have been able to hold down the fort in the back end, usually pitching the final two innings of close games. And Mason Thompson has stepped up to fill Edwards’ setup role ahead of them.

“Yeah, they've been really, really awesome,” Martinez said. “If we can get the ball to those guys, we got a good chance to win ballgames at the end.”

That came true in Friday night’s win over the Phillies.

After Josiah Gray threw his 99th pitch to strike out Bryson Stott and end the sixth inning, Davey Martinez turned to his new Big 3 in his bullpen to protect a 2-1 lead.

Thompson was the first to be called, trying to get it to Finnegan in the eighth. After a leadoff double by Alec Bohm, the right-hander came back to strike out Brandon Marsh on a 98 mph sinker right in the zone and a 96 mph fastball away to Kody Clemens.

With Kyle Schwarber due up next, Martinez decided to go with Finnegan’s .173 opponents average among lefties as opposed to Thompson’s .218, even though both right-handers have reverse splits this season. And that was the right call, as Finnegan induced a groundout by Schwarber with a high and away fastball.

Finnegan came back for the eighth, and even though he allowed a single to Bryce Harper, he retired Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto to hand it over to Harvey in the ninth.

And Harvey worked quickly to record his fourth save, retiring the side on 10 pitches, nine strikes.

“Those three guys in particular, Harvey, Finnegan and Thompson, you've seen these guys evolve over the last couple of years and what they can be,” Martinez said. “And they're really showing that they can pitch in the back end of the bullpen.”

What the Nationals have envisioned from the start of the season has come to fruition even with Edwards sidelined. Finnegan and Harvey are locking down the late innings, and even Thompson is evolving into a more trusted reliever. And each of them has pitched really well as of late.

Thompson and Finnegan have each only allowed one earned run since the start of June. In the same time frame, Thompson has struck out 12 to seven walks in 11 innings over 12 appearances, and Finnegan has struck out eight to just one walk in 11 ⅓ innings over 12 appearances.

Harvey took a while to get going in June, but he has been lights out over his last six appearances, pitching 5 ⅓ scoreless innings with just two hits and one walk while striking out six and recording four saves.

“I like matching those guys up to where I think they fit in the best,” Martinez said. “One guy will get the eighth, one guy will get the ninth. Finnegan has done a great job of both. Harvey has actually done a great job of both. I mean, we started Harvey out pitching in the sixth inning in high-leverage situations. And now we kind of need him in the back end of the bullpen. We do miss CEJ. We hope to get him back soon because he's another guy that we trust in that back end as well. But like I said, these other guys have done well so far.”

The longer Edwards is out, the more the Nationals will need other relievers not named Thompson, Finnegan or Harvey to pitch high-leverage situations. Not that any high-leverage innings came in yesterday’s 19-4 thrashing by the Phillies, but the lack of any other trusted arms showed. And the Nats will continue looking for some.

“I like the way we're shaping up our bullpen,” Martinez said. “These guys, as I said before, they're all gonna get an opportunity to pitch, and pitch in high-leverage situations. We can't just rely on the three guys. These other guys got to kind of step up, and I want to see what they can do in situations like that. Weems the other day, a big win for us in Seattle. Pitched two innings for us and did really well, so hopefully he continues to do that for us as well.”