Nats ride late homers, bullpen escape act to sweep of Pirates

The exact situation practically was proposed to Davey Martinez 90 minutes before Jeremy Hellickson threw his first pitch of the day. Given the right-hander's propensity to fade quickly when he faces an opposing lineup for the third time in a game, Martinez was asked before today's series finale what he would do if Hellickson was performing well with a low pitch count when the Pirates lineup came up to bat a third time.

"We will have to really think about it," the first-year Nationals manager said. "He does really well up til that third time around. We will just have to keep an eye on it."

Wouldn't you know what happened about three hours later. Hellickson, having thrown 5 2/3 scoreless innings on 61 pitches, was pulled by Martinez after allowing a two-out single to Pittsburgh leadoff man Adam Frazier in a scoreless game.

Hellickson's frustration upon handing the ball over to his manager was visible for all 30,434 in attendance to see. But few could lament the end result of it all. Behind sixth-inning homers by Trea Turner and Ryan Zimmerman, then three (slightly shaky) innings from the well-rested back end of their bullpen, the Nationals emerged with a 3-1 victory, a four-game sweep of the Pirates, their first five-game winning streak of the season and a return to the .500 mark for the first time since April 20.

Martinez's hook of Hellickson surely surprised plenty of onlookers, but it was consistent with the Nationals' handling of the journeyman right-hander so far. Through his career, opponents' OPS vs. Hellickson significantly grows each successive time they face him, from .677 the first time to .730 the second time to .839 the third time.

Sure enough, in each of Hellickson's two previous starts, he faded the third time around. After five scoreless innings against the Dodgers, he gave up three runs in the sixth. After five innings of one-run ball against the Diamondbacks, he gave up a homer in the sixth.

So even though he had coasted through five scoreless innings of two-hit, zero-walk ball today against the Pirates, Martinez already had Sammy Solís warming when the sixth inning began. And after Frazier singled up the middle with two outs, with imposing lefty Gregory Polanco coming to the plate, Martinez made the walk to the mound and summoned Solis (who got a flyball to right to end the inning).

Turner and Zimmerman then supplied the long-awaited run support in the bottom of the sixth. Facing Pirates starter Trevor Williams for the third time, Turner roped a line drive over the left field wall for a two-run homer. Three batters later, Zimmerman sent a ball flying into the red seats beyond the left-center field wall to make it 3-0.

That provided some cushion for the back end of the bullpen to finish things off, which proved important. Brandon Kintzler, appearing for the first time in three days, put up a zero in the seventh. But Ryan Madson, who hasn't been himself since pitching three straight games in mid-April, got into a bases-loaded jam in the eighth aided by Howie Kendrick's error on a tailor-made double-play ball.

Martinez wound up summoning Sean Doolittle to escape that jam - one unearned run did cross the plate - and then return for the ninth to notch only the second five-out save of his career, first since 2015 with the Athletics.