Espino's memorable week now includes first career save

The call to the bullpen came after the bottom of the eighth, the Nationals at that point trailing the Phillies 12-11. Paolo Espino was told to warm up, and that he would be pitching the bottom of the ninth if his teammates managed to tie the game or take the lead.

And when that's exactly what they did, getting a two-run single from Starlin Castro to go up 13-12 in the craziest game of the season, Espino began to make his way to the mound, now tasked with recording the final three outs but not particularly getting caught up in what that actually meant.

"I guess I kind of knew, if it was tied or a save situation, I knew about it," Espino said later in a Zoom session with reporters. "But in my head, I wasn't really thinking: 'Oh man, a save situation!' I just went out there and tried to do the same thing I've been doing: Go out there and get outs and help the team win."

It's that kind of mindset that has made the 34-year-old journeyman such a favorite of manager Davey Martinez, who on Wednesday referred to him as "our secret weapon." He wasn't about to treat this moment any differently than he had any previous moment, even if this was the first time in his career he was being asked to convert a save.

"The one guy I know is going to go out there and pump strikes," Martinez said. "And he did that today. And he got his first save in the major leagues, which is awesome."

On a day when regular closer Brad Hand was unavailable because he had pitched four of the previous five days, Daniel Hudson and Kyle Finnegan were both on the injured list, and Tanner Rainey, Wander Suero, Austin Voth, Kyle McGowin, Justin Miller and Sam Clay all had already pitched, there really was nobody else for Martinez to hand the ball to for the save situation. Not that Espino hadn't earned the opportunity with his continued excellence on the mound during this most surprising season.

Espino, drafted 15 years ago by Cleveland and having barely seen any time in the majors until this year, now is the proud owner of a 2.20 ERA and 0.767 WHIP in 16 appearances, two of those emergency starts. One week earlier, he had earned his first big league win. And on Wednesday, he earned his first big league save.

"It's been crazy," the right-hander said, beaming from ear to ear. "A lot of emotions. It was very, very nice. I mean, back-to-back appearances, getting first win and first save, that's really nice. But at the end of the day, it's my job. Every time I go out there, I just try to do the best I can to help the team. Thank God it's been really nice and it's been a good situation and I've been able to end up successful."

Espino's save conversion wasn't a simple one. With his team up one run and zero margin for error, he had to face the heart of a Phillies lineup that had ransacked several of his bullpen mates during the course of the previous four hours. But he did what he always does (attack the strike zone and force the opposition to beat him) and emerged victorious.

Espino got Rhys Hoskins to fly out to center on his first pitch. He got Bryce Harper to fly out to left on his next pitch. And when he got J.T. Realmuto to hit a sharp grounder up the middle, he was on the verge of a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth. But then the ball skipped off Jordy Mercer's glove and smacked him on the mouth.

Mercer was charged with an error and the tying run was now on base, but of greater concern was that the backup infielder was bleeding profusely from his mouth.

"It's crazy," third baseman Castro said. "The infield is super hard today. I saw it, 'cause I'm in front of him at third, and I saw the ball go straight to his mouth. I go up there and I see he's bleeding."

Martinez joined director of athletic training Paul Lessard in checking on Mercer and seeing if he could continue in the game. The Nationals, by that point, had used up everyone on their bench except for catcher Yan Gomes. So there wasn't exactly a good replacement option if Mercer needed to come out of the game.

Martinez told Mercer: "The only thing we can do is put Yan Gomes at third base (and shift Castro to second). What do you think?"

Mercer's response: "I'll swallow my blood."

On the mound, Espino regrouped and came up with a plan to retire Brad Miller and give Mercer a shot at redemption in the process.

"I could see he was spitting blood," the reliever said. "I'm like: Oh man, they got him pretty good. And then in my head, I was like: Let's see if we can get another one hit to him so he can catch it. And he ended up getting it. Sometimes in games when somebody makes an error, I'm like: I'm going to give you another one. Let's go, you can do this. So that kind of went through my head a little bit."

Sure enough, Espino got Miller to hit a line drive right at Mercer, who snagged the ball for the final out and sealed the save for the Nationals' unlikely closer.

It took a perfect storm of events, many of them negative, for Espino to even find himself in this position. And he may never get the chance to do it again. But in the meantime, he'll just keep going after hitters in any situation he finds himself in on the mound and continue to enjoy this unexpected ride.

"My entire career, I've had good command, and I think that's been pretty much the key of my success," Espino said. "That's what I do: I go out there and throw strikes, attack the hitters. That's been my mentality from the moment I got up here. And my entire career, I've been trying to attack the hitters, hit the corners, hit my spots, and it's been a blessing that everything's been going really well so far."