Bullpen vets hang on, secure series sweep for Nats (updated)

During the course of one ballgame, a manager's toughest decision often boils down to the following question: Do everything in your power to win today's game or hold back in order to protect overused players for the long haul?

There's never one right answer to the dilemma, and a skipper can twist himself into knots trying to justify either approach. So when this very quandary arose this afternoon on South Capitol Street and Davey Martinez had to decide whether it was worth playing all of his bullpen cards to try to sweep the Orioles or take his chances with someone else and protect his veterans' arms, the Nationals manager felt it was worth the risk.

What transpired next: The Nats hung on for a 6-5 victory over Baltimore, thanks to the gutsy efforts of Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand in the final two innings. Both veterans were pitching for the third straight day, the fourth time in five days. Nobody would've excused either had he asked for a day off. Instead, both said they were available and Martinez trusted them to do their jobs.

"You want to keep these guys right for the whole season, keep them healthy," the manager said during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "But when you've got a chance to win a game, it's really about having these conversations and seeing where they're really at. If any one of them had told me they definitely needed a day (off), we would've had to do something else. But when they come up to me and say they're good, they just want to get up and get in (the game), then I understand that."

"We're used to it in that position," Hand said. "Obviously, it's the first time this year that I've gone three in a row. But with an off-day tomorrow, I felt good today. It's nice to come in there and get the job done."

First, though, it was Hudson, who was handed a one-run lead in the eighth and promptly blew away the Orioles in order, striking out Cedric Mullins with an 88 mph slider and Ryan Mountcastle looking at a 99 mph fastball on the black. The 34-year-old bullpen workhorse with two Tommy John surgeries on his resume pounded his glove with delight as he hopped off the mound, his ERA now down to a miniscule 1.06.

"That's why they're in those situations," catcher Alex Avila said. "Because they're been able to succeed and put themselves in the physical condition to be able to do that on back-to-back-to-back days."

Then it was Hand's turn in the ninth. The last several weeks have been an adventure for the lefty, who was scored upon in five-of-six appearances but looked much sharper in retiring the side during Saturday's 12-9 win.

Hand would give up a leadoff, opposite-field single to Stevie Wilkerson, who was advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. He got Freddy Galvis to pop up, at which point Martinez made the call to intentionally walk the dangerous Trey Mancini and take his chances with Anthony Santander instead, instructing Hand to attack the cleanup hitter with high fastballs.

The move paid off. Hand blew a 94 mph heater past Santander and his teammates joined him in the center of the diamond to celebrate a one-run victory and a series sweep.

"I was trying to get it up there," Hand said. "He'll chase that one above the zone. So it was good to execute some pitches right there and get out of that."

Martinez's bullpen decisions were based on his daily communication with his relievers. He also found himself needing to communicate with his biggest star position player after this game, for entirely different reasons.

With two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the fourth, Juan Soto popped a ball straight up into the air. Assuming catcher Pedro Severino would snatch it behind the plate, Soto didn't move. Then, once he realized the ball might be tailing back into fair territory, he started to run to first base. It was too late. Even though the ball fell to the ground untouched, Severino was able to retrieve it in time to throw Soto out and prevent the runner from third from scoring.

Soto appeared to understand the severity of his mistake immediately, but his manager really made sure to drive the point home after the game.

"I already talked to him about it, and I told him it's embarrassing for the whole club," Martinez said in a rare public admonishment of one of his players. "He understands that. I made him apologize to the team, and I told him it doesn't happen again. And he understands that as well."

The top of the first today was nearly a carbon copy of Saturday's game, with one very notable exception. Like Jon Lester 21 hours earlier, Patrick Corbin got himself into early trouble, surrendering four straight hits to open the game. They weren't hit especially hard, and those that were never left the ground, but the Orioles nonetheless wound up with three runs across plate.

Unlike Lester, though, Corbin avoided the one towering blast that would've blown the inning wide open. There was no grand slam this time, and even though he needed to throw 30 pitches and face eight batters, Corbin did manage to get out of the inning without digging his team into a colossal hole.

Besides, the Nationals didn't need much time to get the three runs back. They actually needed only four batters to do that, then another three to take the lead. Josh Bell's RBI single got them on the board, and when Kyle Schwarber homered moments later, the two big bats in the heart of the Nats lineup that struggled so mightily in April continued their resurgent May.

And the Nationals weren't done. Josh Harrison and Avila delivered back-to-back, two-out doubles off Matt Harvey to complete a four-run rally and give the home team the lead after one eventful inning of baseball.

"It's not ideal. You'd rather come out of that first with a zero and score first, but you've got to be able to come back and win games over the course of a season as well," said Avila, who finished 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk. "It was nice to be able to do that the last couple days. But hopefully it's not a habit."

Things did settle down after that, as both starters found some semblance of effectiveness to keep the proceedings reasonable. Corbin gave up one more run in the third but otherwise did a nice job salvaging his outing, finishing with four runs allowed (albeit on 11 hits and two walks) in 5 2/3 innings.

"It was great to see our offense, after the first, put up four runs and get the lead back," Corbin said. "I'm just trying to pitch as deep as I can in the game there. Obviously frustrating, just the way that it went. But I felt good. I felt my stuff was good. These guys are an aggressive team, and the last couple days definitely proved it again. But you just try to continue making your pitches, and hopefully they start hitting them at guys."

Harvey ran into a bit more trouble, charged with runs in both the fourth (on Trea Turner's sacrifice fly) and fifth (on Andrew Stevenson's bases-loaded walk). That run-scoring walk came out of the hand of reliever Cole Sulser, a righty summoned by Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde to face back-to-back lefties (Avila and Stevenson) who wound up walking both.

That created a dilemma for Martinez: With the bases still loaded and two out in the fifth, his team ahead 6-4, the manager had to decide whether to let his pitcher bat for himself. Go for the jugular now or try to get one more inning from the starter and try to give an overworked bullpen a breather?

Martinez went with the latter approach, sending Corbin to the plate. He would fly out to left to end the inning, then record two outs in the sixth before his day was done. The Nationals would entrust the final 10 outs to a relief corps running on fumes.

And they would emerge with a weekend sweep.

"They've been outstanding," Martinez said. "I've called upon these guys in different situations, and they've handled it really well."