Baker curious to see how Glover responds to rough outing

Dusty Baker has suggested for several weeks he would like to see how Koda Glover handles a late-inning situation. On more than one occasion, Baker has mentioned he hopes Glover does for the 2016 Nationals what Francisco Rodriguez did for the 2002 Angels: hold the setup role for a World Series champion only a month after making his major league debut.

So when Friday night's game against the Phillies presented an ideal opportunity for it, Baker didn't hesitate to use Glover in a big spot: up three runs in the top of the eighth.

The outcome wasn't particularly what anyone had in mind. Glover put the first two batters he faced on base via a hit by pitch and a walk. Then he served up a three-run homer to Cameron Rupp on a 97-mph sinker that was over the heart of the plate.

"We didn't think Rupp was going to catch up to the fastball, because he hadn't caught up with it all day," Baker said. "Boy, he hit that ball a ton. I asked (catcher Wilson) Ramos where was the pitch. He said it was right down the middle. In the big leagues, if you make a mistake like that, they usually lose it. I'm just thankful we came back."

Indeed, the Nationals' eventual 5-4 victory on Trea Turner's first career walk-off homer salvaged the game and took the spotlight off Glover.

But Baker's usage of the rookie reliever is worth mentioning, because it did suggest the manager is willing to give the young right-hander a chance to supplant Shawn Kelley as Mark Melancon's primary setup man.

"He's been pretty good late in the game," Baker said of Glover. "That's the first time he's given it up. This guy's got electric stuff, you know what I mean? ... You can second-guess the move or whatever, but everything doesn't work all the time. Sometimes it works on the other side. You don't like it, but that's part of the game."

The question now is how Glover deals with the first real adversity of his brief big league career. It's a question every young reliever must answer at some point. Based on what he knows of this one so far, Baker is hopeful everything will be fine the next time he takes the mound.

"This is all part of the process," the manager said. "This is all part of the process of being a big leaguer. The thing about the bullpen, especially late in the game, you have to be able to forget yesterday. You know what I mean? I've seen the best give them up. Even Mariano Rivera, he gave them up sometimes. The mark of a reliever - and most of them are kind of eccentric and on the crazy side - but they have the ability to forget yesterday, especially if it was bad. We'll see."