Dropped popup aside, Ribalta helps carry Nats bullpen through big win

Orlando Ribalta couldn’t believe his good luck. He had just gotten Austin Barnes to pop up a bunt right back to the mound, and all the Nationals reliever had to do was catch it for the easy out.

And then the ball somehow fell to the ground. At which point Ribalta realized this might actually work out better for him, because now he had an easy double play, with the Dodgers’ Andy Pages stuck in no-man’s land off first base.

Tuesday night’s four-man umpiring crew thought otherwise, ultimately huddling up and determining Ribalta intentionally dropped the routine popup, thus negating the second out made on the play and sending Pages back to first base unscathed.

Davey Martinez was livid, nearly getting himself thrown out of the game by crew chief Chris Guccione. Ribalta was more embarrassed than upset.

“The call is whatever they called. You can’t fight against it,” he said. “But I didn’t do it on purpose. I just couldn’t catch it.”

Consider it his only real mistake of an otherwise sparkling night.

With the Nationals needing nine innings out of four bullpen arms, Ribalta more than did his part. He churned out three frames of one-run ball on 58 pitches, a major contributor to an 8-2 victory over the Dodgers for the team’s fourth straight win.

“I take a lot of pride in trying to help the team out,” the 6-foot-8 righty said. “I know we were using the bullpen. I knew I had to go out there and eat as much innings as possible to try to save the guys over in the bullpen.”

This is the role club officials have envisioned for the rookie reliever. He struggled in four cameo appearances last September but looked like a different person this spring, earning a spot on the Opening Day roster. They envision the 27-year-old as a multi-inning arm, just as he proved himself to be Tuesday.

When he took the mound for the top of the fifth, Ribalta understood the assignment. But he also understood it wouldn’t do him any good to think about how many outs he needed to get over multiple frames.

“I was taking one hitter at a time, not focusing on the next inning or the next inning,” he said. “Whatever happened in the first batter, just leave it behind you and keep going.”

He actually gave up a homer to the first batter he faced (Pages) but rebounded to keep Los Angeles from scoring anything else against him before departing at the end of the seventh.

Combined with starter Brad Lord and fellow relievers Colin Poche and Jackson Rutledge, Ribalta and Co. totaled 15 strikeouts in the game.

“I keep saying, especially these young guys: We cannot walk away from the strike zone,” Martinez said. “We know they have a bat. We know they’re all good hitters. But when you fall behind, they become really, really good hitters. We have to attack the strike zone. We have to get ahead early and make pitches. And today, they did that. …

“I’m proud of all those guys. Because going into this game, not knowing what was going to happen, they all stepped up.”

There was perhaps some irony in the way the pitching plan worked out for this game. Ribalta, Lord and Rutledge were among the final guys fighting for the final roster spots coming out of spring training. In the end, the Nationals chose to keep Ribalta and Lord, sending Rutledge to Triple-A Rochester.

Less than two weeks later, all three played a major role in shutting down one of the best lineups in baseball.

“It’s great,” Ribalta said. “My teammates, they’re getting on track. They’re great players. They’re getting back in it. It’s good to see all of us coming back together.”