Finally entrusted in big spot, Rosenthal comes through

As he handed Trevor Rosenthal the baseball with the game on the line Friday night - a scenario that had not been seen around these parts since the season's very first week - Davey Martinez had a simple message for his beleaguered right-hander.

"This is your moment," manager said to pitcher. "Enjoy it."

Given what Rosenthal has been through in 2019, why not try to spread a little positivity in a critical moment?

Four pitches and one gargantuan out later, Rosenthal indeed was enjoying the moment, greeted with a loud roar from the Nationals Park crowd of 34,212 as he walked off the mound following the best and most important outing of his roller coaster season.

"We're playing really good baseball right now," the 29-year-old said. "Just to be able to contribute, that's what I want to do. I want to be here. I want to be a part of these wins. It was a lot of fun."

The Nationals, of course, wanted Rosenthal to be a part of lots of wins like this. But when he opened his season in disastrous fashion, Martinez simply couldn't afford to use the former All-Star closer in any situation of consequence, not until he showed at least a glimmer of hope of rediscovering his lost form.

Since returning from a month-long rehab stint in the minors earlier this month, Rosenthal had shown that glimmer. He pitched the first two scoreless innings of his season, though each came in a blowout.

Eventually, Martinez knew he had to put Rosenthal into a higher-leverage spot. And after using up the rest of his bullpen to pull off three wins in two days over the Phillies, the second-year skipper knew Friday was going to have to be the night.

So with the Nationals clinging to a 4-3 lead and the tying run on second with two out in the top of the eighth, he signaled down to the 'pen for Rosenthal to face Braves rookie slugger Austin Riley.

"This game is a game of riches, as we all know," Martinez said. "He's done it. He understands big moments. It was a perfect spot for him: Two outs, a young hitter who is really good, aggressive hitter. I said to myself: 'This is going to be his moment. He's going to come in there and shut the door down.'"

Rosenthal started off Riley, who homered off a Stephen Strasburg fastball earlier in the game, with a slider below the knees, hoping to catch him off-guard. The rookie showed the patience to take it for ball one, so now Rosenthal turned to his fastball.

He got Riley to swing through a 97 mph heater for strike one, then to foul off a 98 mph offering for strike two. And then he dialed it up to 100 mph, jamming Riley and getting him to send a weak grounder to third, where Anthony Rendon scooped up the ball and fired it across the diamond for the final out of the inning.

"Just trust my stuff," Rosenthal said of his mindset in that moment. "Go out there and do what I've been doing forever. I just control what I can control, and good things will happen. We had good defense on display tonight. Even if they put it in play, I knew we'd have a good chance."

The crowd roared as Rosenthal walked off the mound, the first time he'd experienced something like that in a while. The support, though, came before anyone knew the result of the at-bat. As Rosenthal prepared to throw his first pitch, a fan in the upper deck yelled out: "Come on, Nats fans! Trevor needs us!"

The crowd began cheering, urging on a reliever with a 19.50 ERA, helping him reduce that number down to 18.47 with just one out recorded.

"Electric night all around," Rosenthal said. "Just a great baseball game. Great night. Great weather. It was amazing. I think everyone really enjoyed that. Being around this team, the support and the excitement I get from my teammates is really fun and makes it enjoyable to be here every day."