What Doolittle hopes to learn from first blown save

It was bound to happen eventually, at least that's how the Nationals figured it. Sean Doolittle had been perfect since his acquisition from the Athletics in July, going 21-for-21 in save opportunities. Could they reasonably expect that conversion rate to remain at 100 percent straight through the end of their season?

So maybe Thursday night's blown save against the Pirates - especially considering the fact the Nationals still came back to win 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth - wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"Yeah, now you can start all over again," manager Dusty Baker said. "And better now than later. I don't know how many he had. How many saves had he gone?"

Informed that Doolittle had recorded 21 consecutive saves, Baker responded: "So if he goes 21 more, that means we'd be world champions."

Uh, well actually, Dusty, if Doolittle records 21 more saves in 2017, something very weird has happened. The Nationals cannot mathematically win more than 14 more games this season, unless the World Series was changed to a best-of-21 contest without the public knowing about that.

But the point here is that a closer sometimes needs to be reminded he's still human. And Doolittle got a healthy reminder of that Thursday night.

"It's easy to say, because we won and they bailed me out there in the bottom half," the reliever said. "But maybe in a way, yeah, to remind myself that from the first pitch coming in, you have to be ready to go. You have to have that killer instinct. You have to have that aggressive mindset. There's no such thing as: 'I'm going to throw strike one here and get ahead' when you're in a save situation.

"So it's a harsh reminder, and it's a tough pill to swallow. But there are some things I can take out of this and learn from moving forward."

Handed the ball with a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth, Doolittle saw it all vanish in the span of only two pitches. Both were fastballs, over the plate but above the knees, and both were hit hard. Andrew McCutchen lined the first one to left field for a single. Josh Bell crushed the second one into the left field bullpen for the game-tying homer.

Doolittle throws almost exclusively fastballs, and the Pirates (like all opponents) know that. But the left-hander didn't view this blown save as evidence he needs to change his pitch selection. He viewed it as evidence he needs to be more mindful with every pitch he throws, especially the first one.

"I didn't define those pitches correctly," he said. "I was thinking about getting ahead of the batter. They were OK pitches. They were located OK. But they didn't have that killer instinct behind them. Sometimes when things have been going good - and they've been going good for a while - I don't want to say you let your guard down, but you're thinking: 'I'm gonna throw strike one down and away, then I'm gonna move the ball around, whatever.' They were ready. They had that killer instinct. They had that aggressive mentality. I don't think I was aggressive enough coming in."

To his credit, Doolittle was able to stop the bleeding right then and there. He retired Pittsburgh's next three batters and gave his team a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth with the score still tied.

"I made the adjustment," he said. "It was two pitches. I was really happy with how I threw the ball after that. But, unfortunately, by the time I made the adjustment, it was too late."

Now the Nationals just hope Doolittle got his one blown save out of the way before it really matters.