Nats can't finish Herz's no-hit bid but do finish off victory (updated)

PITTSBURGH – There may come a day when DJ Herz is given the opportunity to make history. That day will come once the 23-year-old left-hander has some more experience, has proven he can pitch a bit more efficiently and gives the Nationals sufficient reason to take the reins off him.

That day wasn’t today, not in Herz’s 16th big league start, not with his pitch count too high after five innings to convince Davey Martinez to let his starter go for broke.

So it was that Herz was pulled after five no-hit innings against the Pirates. The Nats bullpen would give up the no-hitter (and the shutout) in the seventh but still finish off a 5-3 victory in the opener of a day-night doubleheader at PNC Park, with Kyle Finnegan averting disaster during another shaky ninth.

Whatever disappointment Herz may have felt in the moment, he’s come to understand why Martinez has been so careful with him in his first major league season. The Nationals’ goal isn’t to make history, it’s to get young starters through the end of September in one piece, setting them up to pitch even more in 2025 and beyond and perhaps someday have the opportunity to make history.

"That day will come," Herz said. "There's no need to rush it."

So in that regard, Herz’s outing today was a rousing success. With five scoreless, no-hit innings on 87 pitches, he earned his third big league win and lowered his ERA to 3.82.

Herz wasn’t necessarily sharp from the get-go, but his stuff clearly was good enough to keep the Pirates’ hitters off balance. He issued a two-out walk in each of his first three innings, but nary a hit. And because he followed up two of those walks with strikeouts, he never saw a runner reach scoring position.

And yet Herz’s pitch count was quite high throughout because his command wasn’t good enough to get many quick outs. With fastballs that regularly sailed high and away from right-handed hitters and changeups that often came in below the zone, the left-hander found himself facing too many long counts to give himself a chance to pitch deep into the game.

He did, however, retire the last seven batters he faced, four via strikeout. And when he walked off the mound at the end of the fifth, he looked to be in control, capable of continuing.

"Everything plays in the zone, so just staying in the zone is the big key," Herz said. "When we're in the zone, good things are happening."

Martinez, though, has been very cautious with all of his young starters since the All-Star break, especially Herz. He hadn’t thrown more than 93 pitches since July 7, and given his penchant to fade during his final innings, the Nats manager (who won't speak to reporters until after the nightcap) decided not to take any chances and pulled him after 87 pitches, even if the scoreboard showed a zero in Pittsburgh’s hit column.

"I definitely understand," Herz said. "I think the most I've ever gone was last year ... and it was about 110 innings. And coming into this start, I think I was at 109-110. I totally understand it, and I agree with it. Just take however long they let me go, and we'll go from there." 

The Nationals led 4-0 at that point, thanks in large part to a pair of lasers off Dylan Crews’ bat.

The rookie outfielder, dropped to the No. 7 spot in the lineup after spending most of his first week in the majors at the top of the order, crushed a 404-foot blast to the deep corner of left-center field in the top of the second for his third big league homer.

Four innings later, Crews drove a pitch from Luis Ortiz 109.6 mph off the bat to straightaway left field. It didn’t quite clear the short wall, but it clanged off it and bounced back a good 25 feet for an easy double, one that easily scored José Tena from first base. Crews now sports an .868 OPS in 10 games since his promotion from Triple-A Rochester.

"Staying with my routines, getting with our hitting coaches here and staying with what I've been doing since day one," he said. "It's gotten me here for a reason, so I'm sticking with it, and it's been good."

The Nats also got a couple runs thanks to defensive mistakes by the Pirates. With runners on second and third in the top of the fourth, Joey Bart couldn’t handle a pitch from Ortiz and Luis García Jr. scampered home on the passed ball. García also benefited in the top of the sixth when he doubled to right-center then kept on going to third when Oneil Cruz’s throw somehow wound up along the railing past the first base dugout. That set him up to score on Keibert Ruiz’s sacrifice fly.

Though they inherited the no-hit bid from Herz, Nationals relievers’ primary challenge upon taking over was to ensure they won the game, whether any hits were involved in the process or not. They did keep the no-hit bid alive a bit longer, though.

Robert Garcia quickly retired the side in the bottom of the sixth, and because of that the left-hander was sent back to the mound to begin the seventh. He got two more outs before Nick Gonzales sent a sharp grounder up the middle for the Pirates’ first hit of the day.

And their first hit immediately turned into their first two runs. Martinez pulled Garcia and summoned Jacob Barnes from the bullpen. Derek Shelton countered with pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez for Connor Joe, gaining the platoon advantage back. And Tellez proceeded to launch a Barnes cutter 443 feet to right field, over the bleachers, off the walkway and into the Allegheny River to cut the Nationals’ lead to 4-2 and make things interesting down the stretch.

It got especially interesting in the ninth, when Finnegan was handed a three-run lead but watched four of the Pirates' first five batters reach, even if two of them did so with weak-contact singles. The Nats closer nonetheless got Bryan De La Cruz to ground into a double play with the bases loaded to ensure Herz (and his team) still got the win.

"You're just trying to build off what DJ has established," said Finnegan, who hasn't had a 1-2-3 inning of relief since July 21. "He pitched a heck of a game. His stuff is electric. And he certainly doesn't look like a comfortable at-bat. He had them right where we wanted them. As a reliever watching it, you're just appreciating the way he's competing out there. And you're just trying to do more of the same."