Matt Grace's "whirlwind" day ends with scoreless frame in major league debut

Early in the day, left-handed reliever Matt Grace was suited up and ready to go for Triple-A Syracuse in its game versus Rochester.

Then he got the call that he was headed to D.C. to join the Nationals because left-hander Felipe Rivero had to be placed on the disabled list due to a gastrointestinal issue.

Grace then hurried to catch a flight to D.C., only to be delayed before taking off from Syracuse.

"Kind of a whirlwind. I was in Syracuse, game's about to start," Grace said. "Kind of brought me in and said you got to get on a plane and head up here, pretty much the gist of it. So got to the airport, plane was delayed two hours. I was kind of in a hurry to get here. Got here 20 minutes before the game started. It was a pretty interesting day. First it was late coming back from D.C. back to Syracuse. And then there was a mechanical issue, I guess the toilet wouldn't flush.

"It was a little added twist in the whole thing."

Grace arrived, was activated and made his major league debut in the seventh inning against the Cardinals.

He threw a scoreless frame, surrendering only a walk to the dangerous Matt Holliday. Grace didn't have time to let his nerves get to him after being in town for two hours and then quickly being called on to pitch.

"It was good to get in there," Grace said. "There wasn't much time to soak it all in, it was just get here and get in the game pretty much.

"I didn't even know if I was going to be activated and I then got the text when I landed that I was going to be activated, so I really didn't tell too many people honestly. My parents were first to know."

Grace said he collected himself pretty quickly as he faced off against Matt Carpenter in the seventh. He managed to get Carpenter and Jason Heyward to ground out to begin the frame.

"Naturally, with this type of environment, there's going to be added pressures out there but (I was) anxious, anxious to get out there," he said. "Once the first pitch was thrown, just try to treat it like anything else pretty much, attack the guys like it was any another game."

Was Grace intimidated at all facing a team like the Cardinals in his debut?

"It's an adjustment, but it boils down to executing pitches and really seeing the glove," he said. "If you can do that it doesn't really matter who's at the plate. I was trying to take that approach. Just trying to see the glove and make a good pitch on each one."

With two outs, pitching coach Steve McCatty came to the mound to lay down the strategy as Grace got ready to take on Holliday.

"He wasn't too happy with me," Grace said. "Lefty on deck, Holliday is a right-handed hitter. Just trying not to give him anything good in that situation. Ended up throwing a couple over the plate. Kind of the approach was to sink it off the plate to get him swinging. But I ended up walking him, which was fine."

Grace fed Holliday six consecutive four-seam fastballs.

"Yeah, just making sure we don't make a mistake here," said Nationals manager Matt Williams. "You got the lefty standing on deck. He wanted to pitch around him make sure he didn't leave something out over for him to hit."

Despite the Nationals' 7-5 loss to St. Louis, Grace's scoreless inning was one of the highlights.

After the game, Grace smiled when clubhouse and equipment manager Mike Wallace brought him the lineup card as a keepsake from his major league debut. It will be a night that Grace will never forget and that every baseball player dreams about accomplishing.

"It's been a long road," Grace said. "This is why I play and why everyone plays is to be here and help this team, and help this team win games. That's the goal. It means a lot. I'm here now in just any role I can, try make pitches, try to get outs and try to help the Nats."

Williams said Grace deserves to be here, and did what he was supposed to do.

"Good. Threw the ball where he wanted to," Williams said. "Pitched around Holliday to get to (Matt) Adams. Made good pitches. The ball sinks. He threw a couple of breaking balls for strikes. Unfazed, which is a good sign."

Williams also said Felipe Rivero's gastrointestinal setback is just a "15-day issue" and a "short-term thing, and he'll be good to go."