Early offense, late escape acts give Nats another win (updated)

The Nationals burst out of the gates tonight to take a quick five-run lead on the Mets. Then they decided to find out if they could make those five runs hold up behind Patrick Corbin and four relievers, with a rain delay thrown into the middle of it all for good measure.

The answer: They could. By the skin of their teeth.

Tonight's 5-3 victory over New York didn't quite go according to script. Not that Davey Martinez could've predicted this particular script, which included an out-of-nowhere rain delay before the top of the eighth that prevented Sean Doolittle from pitching as planned.

Instead, Martinez had to get 10 outs from the quartet of Ryne Harper, Tanner Rainey, Javy Guerra and Daniel Hudson, the first two pitching their way out of dangerous jams.

It all worked out in the end, and the Nationals emerged with their third straight win and a .500 record at 4-4 following their long weekend off to account for the Marlins' coronavirus outbreak.

"I love what I saw tonight from these guys," Martinez said. "They came out with a lot of energy."

The bullpen escape acts came fast and furious. Handed the ball with two on and two out in the sixth after Corbin was pulled, Harper needed only two pitches to get Tomás Nido to ground out and end that potential rally.

One inning later, Harper needed to be bailed out himself after issuing back-to-back walks. Enter Rainey for the sixth time in seven games (with a four-day break mixed in there) and now facing his toughest jam of the young season: Two on, nobody out and the heart of the Mets lineup batting.

No problem. Rainey struck out Pete Alonso with a 96-mph fastball, got Wilson Ramos to fly out to center on a 2-0 pitch and then got Michael Conforto to fly out to left to stop that rally dead in its tracks and extend a remarkable run by Nationals relievers to begin this season.

Through eight games, the bullpen has successfully stranded all 15 runners it has inherited. Last season? Nats relievers let 42 percent of inherited runners score, the worst rate in the majors.

"Being able to come into situations where there's already guys on, whether they're in scoring position or not, it doesn't matter how many outs," Rainey said. "Being able to come in and pick somebody up, or just pass the ball to the next guy, it's huge. If you can keep the inherited runners from scoring, that's part of a bullpen's job."

As important as Rainey's escape was, this game was far from over, and Mother Nature would play a huge role in Martinez's bullpen usage the rest of the way. Doolittle was warmed up and ready to take the mound for the top of the eighth when the skies suddenly opened and sent everyone scurrying for cover.

By the time they were ready to resume the game an hour and six minutes later, Doolittle was no longer available to pitch.

"We had him hot for the eighth inning," Martinez said. "He was coming into the game. But it started raining, and I'm not going to do that to him. We want to get him going. Once he got hot, we waited for a while, and I wasn't going to put him back out there."

So Martinez instead sent Guerra to the mound for a rare appearance in a setup role and watched as the veteran posted another zero, thanks to a pair of a strikeouts and a nice throw by Yan Gomes and tag by Trea Turner to get former teammate Brian Dozier trying to take second base on a pitch in the dirt.

Hudson then retired the top of the Mets order in the ninth to earn the save and cap off the Nationals' win in their first game this season against a division rival.

After four days off, who knew what to expect when the Nationals took the field tonight? Turns out they looked as sharp as they did during last Thursday's win over the Blue Jays, both at the plate and on the mound.

Despite the lack of Juan Soto in their lineup, the Nats went right after Steven Matz, scoring off the Mets lefty in the first, second and third innings. Those first two runs each came via singular big swings: Howie Kendrick's 414-foot homer to left-center, then Josh Harrison's 406-foot blast over the left field bullpen.

Watching from the stands, Soto raced over and began dancing on top of the dugout as Harrison made his way through the receiving line below him.

"I missed that one," Martinez said. "They told me about it, but that's who these guys are. They're a bunch of guys that pull for each other. They love each other. They want everybody to do well. And when things are going, they're a bunch that wants to have fun. They need to have fun."

The solo homers were nice, but rest assured Martinez was more impressed with the sustained rally his team put together during a three-run bottom of the third. The inning included three singles (Kendrick, Starlin Castro, Carter Kieboom), a double (Asdrúbal Cabrera) and a sacrifice fly (Harrison). All four hits were either up the middle or to the opposite field.

"Today, I think the game plan was to work some counts, see some pitches," said Kendrick, who finished 4-for-4. "I think, as hitters, sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and we don't give ourselves opportunities to see some pitches. ... You just try to be patient and hopefully it works out for you. And tonight was just one of those nights where it worked out for me."

Up 5-0, the Nationals knocked Matz from the game after three innings and 78 pitches. Then they watched to see if Corbin could do the rest.

The way his evening began, it looked like Corbin could. He cruised through New York's lineup the first time through, retiring 10 of the first 12 batters he faced. Then things turned dicey.

Michael Conforto's fourth-inning drive to deep left field didn't look dangerous off the bat, but it just kept carrying and managed to clank off the railing beyond the fence for a two-run homer. One inning later, Corbin couldn't get the all-important third out before another run crossed the plate via three straight singles (one of them a slow roller to third that Kieboom fielded nicely but threw wide to first to give the leading runner an extra base).

By the time the top of the sixth rolled around, Corbin was pushing the 100-pitch mark. And after back-to-back, two-out singles, Martinez decided it was time to turn to his bullpen, asking this new-look group to cobble together the final 10 outs while dealing with a sudden rainstorm.

"I talk to these guys a lot, and confidence goes a long way," Martinez said. "I told them: 'This year, you guys are going to be put into moments that are uncomfortable. But I believe in you guys, and I believe you guys can get outs. It's all about just getting an out. Don't worry about the outcome. Just worry about getting outs.' And they've done a great job of that."