Beleaguered bullpen steps up to close out tough win

NEW YORK - It was the dominant storyline of the season's first week, and it promises to remain that way through this first road trip of 2019. The Nationals are going to live and die by their bullpen, and after dying a few times at home against the Mets and Phillies, they were brought back to life by the beleaguered relief corps this afternoon during a 4-0 victory at Citi Field.

"Like I said before, if we're going to do this, I got to trust the bullpen to get the job done," manager Davey Martinez said. "And they got it done."

Did they ever.

Matt Grace, Justin Miller and Tony Sipp collectively faced five batters during the critical seventh and eighth innings today, when the Nationals led by only two runs. Miller issued one walk to Brandon Nimmo, but the group struck out the other four Mets they faced, three of those representing the tying or go-ahead run.

"That's what we need to do," Grace said. "That's our job. That's what we're supposed to do."

The Nationals did a lot of good things today. Stephen Strasburg dominated for 6 2/3 innings, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth and a one-hitter into the seventh while striking out nine. Victor Robles homered off Noah Syndergaard for the second time in a week. Wilmer Difo drove in two runs, one via a perfectly executed safety squeeze.

But none of that would have mattered if the bullpen didn't do its job and close the game out over the final 2 1/3 innings.

A group that entered the day with an 11.02 ERA - by far the worst in the majors - had drawn nothing but the ire of fans (and possibly a few club employees in private) to date, but today was a new day and a new opportunity to flip the script.

Grace got that process kickstarted when he entered to replace Strasburg following back-to-back singles in the bottom of the seventh. Initially slated to face pinch-hitter Dominic Smith, the Nats lefty wound up instead facing the right-handed J.D. Davis after Mets manager Mickey Callaway decided to play the percentages.

No problem. Grace, who has now appeared in five of the Nationals' first six games, worked the count to 1-2 and then caught Davis looking at a sinker on the inside corner to escape the jam and leave the tying run stranded on base.

"Obviously the bullpen's been struggling a little bit. Everyone knows that," the lefty said. "But it was a good out, and a good win."

Now came the harrowing eighth inning, the frame that has cost the Nationals more than any other to date. Their pitching staff had surrendered an astounding 14 runs in the eighth inning alone through five games and had yet to post even a single zero on the scoreboard.

This situation was supposed to be reserved for Trevor Rosenthal, the former Cardinals closer who after missing the entire 2018 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery was signed for a guaranteed $7 million in early November. But seven baserunners allowed in as many opportunities and an infinite ERA have pushed Rosenthal into a lesser role for now, so Martinez turned to the one right-hander who has stepped up so far: Miller.

Miller had just thrown 25 pitches across two scoreless innings during Wednesday's wild win over the Phillies, but he had enough left in the tank to throw 16 more pitches today and strike out both Luis Guillorme and Pete Alonso (sandwiched around the Nimmo walk).

It looks like the Nats have a new right-handed setup man.

"He did it all year last year when we got him," Martinez said of the journeyman reliever, who emerged from nowhere off a minor league contract. "We asked him to get one big out. We asked him to pitch three innings once. He's that guy. He wants to pitch. If he's available, he wants to pitch."

To escape the eighth inning today with the lead intact, Martinez needed to get one more crucial out from the man who was signed in mid-March specifically for this situation: Sipp. The veteran lefty entered the season having faced Robinson Canó a full 21 times over their respective careers, allowing seven hits (three of those homers). He had already faced him twice last weekend in D.C., once getting him to ground out, once surrendering a bloop single.

Now Sipp had to come up with a new game plan for their third head-to-head battle of the young season.

"It's definitely a little cat-and-mouse out there," he said. "Because I know exactly what he can do. He knows me probably better than any other lefty. I've probably faced him more times than most lefties. It's definitely fun, especially in those type of situations where everyone's on their toes, the defense not getting caught by surprise because the game's on the line."

So what did Sipp do? He threw a first-pitch slider over the plate that Canó took for strike one. He perfectly placed a second-pitch fastball on the low-and-outside corner that Canó took for strike two. And then he surprised him with another slider over the plate that Canó took for strike three to kill the rally right there.

Three pitches. Three strikes. Zero swings.

"I don't know what that was," Sipp said with a laugh. "He's been aggressive early sometimes. Sometimes he takes. He mixes it up. I don't know what today was. But I'll take it every time if he wants to let me just do my job out there."

Thanks to a couple of tack-on runs in the top of the ninth, Sean Doolittle was afforded extra cushion to close out the game with ease. And a Nationals team that felt like it was on the brink of disaster only a few days ago has suddenly won two in a row and improved to 3-3 on the season (and in the division).

"It's easy to kind of nitpick, and obviously (the bullpen) hasn't started the way that they hoped, but it's important to practice patience," Strasburg said. "That's the biggest thing. We know what we got in here, and I think you watch those games and it's crazy some of the things that were going on. But that's baseball. So that's not sustainable, either."