Nats eke out a win, but one-run games are coming at a cost

Davey Martinez sat down for his postgame news conference, minutes after yet another nip-and-tuck affair, and sighed.

"That was exciting," the Nationals manager said. "We've got to start scoring runs when we can. They're playing well, they really are. But when we have a chance to put teams away, we've got to start putting them away."

It needs to be stressed at this point that the Nationals won tonight's game. They beat the Pirates 3-2 to produce their first two-game winning streak in two weeks.

Even in victory, though, Martinez noted the obvious: This team can't keep playing such close games every single night and live to tell about it. It needs to be able to catch its breath every once in a while with a more lopsided score, like the 15-2 thrashing of the Giants last Wednesday at AT&T Park.

Alas, that's the Nationals' lone exception in their last eight games. The other seven all were decided by one or two runs, making for some harrowing moments on the field and in the dugout.

"I think it wears on you a little bit during the regular season, but I think in the long run that's actually probably going to benefit us," shortstop Trea Turner said. "In the postseason, or at the end of the year when games really, really matter, I think that helps you. If you play in those close games, you don't change the way you play later in the year. Obviously we'd love to win 15-to-whatever we did the other day. But right now, we're not."

No, they're not. The Nationals once again had to scratch and claw their way to all three runs they scored tonight, missing out on several opportunities to deliver a knockout punch to Pirates starter Jameson Taillon. Then they had to hang on for dear life as Tanner Roark surrendered a towering home run in the top of the seventh to trim their lead to one but then struck out the final two batters he faced to end his evening at 105 pitches.

And that only got the game into the hands of perhaps the most-overworked bullpen in the majors, which made for some even more harrowing moments late.

Sean Doolittle had pitched each of the last three days, the first time the closer had done that since late 2012 with the Athletics. He and his manager met before the game to discuss his status, and Doolittle said he could pitch.

"No, you're off," Martinez told him.

"No, if you need me ..." the reliever replied.

"You're off," Martinez insisted.

So that meant a reconfiguration of late-inning roles. But that didn't mean the Nationals' other bullpen stalwarts were in peak physical shape, either. Ryan Madson (who earlier this month appeared on back-to-back-to-back days) had needed Saturday off after pitching the previous two games. He returned tonight for the top of the eighth and quickly retired the side on nine pitches.

Brandon Kintzler (who also earlier this month appeared in back-to-back-to-back games) had pitched both Saturday and Sunday and certainly could've used tonight off. But when Martinez asked the veteran if he could close this game, Kintzler immediately answered yes.

"I think the team needs you," he said. "We need to get some wins, and I felt good enough where I felt like I could help the team out. Doolittle needs a day off. Madson loves the eighth inning. And a lot of the other guys have been throwing a lot. ... I felt strong, and I wanted to step it up for the team."

Kintzler did just that, retiring the side on 11 pitches in the ninth for his first save of the season.

That save, though, came in Kintzler's 15th appearance of 2018. On Saturday he mentioned that 14 or 15 appearances in a month represented his "red line," the point at which he worried there could be negative repercussions. He got to appearance No. 15 on the final day of April.

"Start the clock over," he said with a laugh. "But I told you the red line carries over, so we'll see."

Who does that leave in the bullpen for Tuesday night's game? The Nationals will figure that out when they reconvene in the early afternoon and take stock of not only their three big-name relievers but the rest of their seven-man corps.

"Some of these other guys are going to have to pitch in big moments as well. And it will happen," Martinez said. "But if we start scoring runs, we can start giving these guys days off. We've played so many one-run games already, it's scary. I mean, it really is."

What do all these tense ballgames tell a manager about his team?

"They got heart," Martinez said. "And I'm getting a lot more grays."