Turner's walk-off blast saves Nats from another bullpen mess

The Nationals have a bullpen problem. But they'll worry about that later tonight, because right now all they care about is celebrating their first win of 2019, thanks to the power supplied by one of the fastest players in baseball.

Trea Turner, who had already clubbed a three-run homer earlier in the afternoon, drilled a walk-off shot into the fierce wind blowing in from left field to deliver a much-needed 6-5 victory over the Mets after the Nats' shaky bullpen suffered through a late meltdown for the second straight day.

Leading by three runs in the eighth, the Nats saw veterans Tony Sipp, Trevor Rosenthal and Sean Doolittle collectively give up five singles to allow the Mets to tie the game and send shivers throughout the crowd at Nationals Park.

But Turner saved the day when he connected off lefty Justin Wilson's 3-2 fastball in the bottom of the ninth, driving it through the wind and into the left field bleachers.

The day had been going quite well, but the Nationals still knew they couldn't fully feel comfortable with the situation given the state of their bullpen already in the season's first weekend. Kyle Barraclough and Matt Grace had pitched in each of the previous two games and figured to be unavailable today. Rosenthal and Sipp each made his debut Saturday, and in a perfect world wouldn't be needed today.

This, of course, isn't a perfect world. And so after he got a 1-2-3 seventh out of Justin Miller, manager Davey Martinez had to decide whether he was willing to turn to Sipp and/or Rosenthal on back-to-back days. He decided to give it a shot.

The problem: The two veterans retired only one of the four batters they faced. Sipp allowed singles to lefties Robinson Canó and Michael Conforto. Rosenthal then allowed an RBI single to Amed Rosario.

So Martinez was left to summon his closer with one out in the eighth. Doolittle struck out Jeff McNeil to put himself on the precipice of a quick inning, but he couldn't get Wilson Ramos (soft liner just past a lunging Turner) or Juan Lagares (line drive single to left).

And so now the game was tied, the crowd was beyond restless and the Nationals still needed to figure out how to get through the rest of this game intact.

Doolittle managed to get through the top of the ninth without suffering any more damage, his pitch count up to 30. If nothing else, he gave his teammates a chance to win it in dramatic fashion.

The debut of a $140 million pitcher might be cause for major anticipation, but given Patrick Corbin's low-key personality, the fact he's still only the Nationals' No. 3 starter and the fact there were plenty of other issues to emerge from the season's first two games, this might as well have just been another outing.

Make no mistake, though: The Nats needed a big-time start out of their new lefty. And they got one.

Corbin didn't pile up strikeouts like he did last season in Arizona (only four in six innings), nor did he induce ground balls like he did a year ago in his breakthrough campaign. But he got the job done via eight flyball outs, taking advantage of the 20 mph wind blowing straight in from left field.

The only Mets batter to have any real success against Corbin was Alonso, the rookie first baseman who turned into a terror in the first major league series of his career. With two more hits and a walk today, Alonso wound up 6-for-11 with two walks, three doubles and three RBIs over the weekend.

Corbin also got some help from his infield defense, especially new second baseman Brian Dozier, who despite his 0-fer weekend at the plate started a brilliant 4-6-3 double play by making a backhanded grab of Rosario's sixth-inning shot up the middle and then flipped the ball from his glove to Turner, who fired a perfect throw to first to complete the highlight-reel play.

By the time Corbin departed for a pinch-hitter, the Nationals had opened up a 5-2 lead, putting the lefty in line to earn his first win. They did so via the slugging of perhaps their two fastest players: Turner and Victor Robles.

After Robles led off the third with a double and advanced to third on Adam Eaton's single, Turner brought everyone home with a three-run blast directly into the wind. It was Turner's sixth hit in 14 career at-bats against Zack Wheeler, his first homer off the Mets starter.

A pair of two-out hits with runners in scoring position helped the Nationals extend their lead. Anthony Rendon's single to center brought home Turner (who had just stolen second base moments earlier) in the fifth. Robles' double down the left field line brought home Yan Gomes in the sixth and gave the Nats bullpen some cushion for the late innings.

Turns out that group needed more than just some cushion.