Bullpen steps up to make late heroics possible

For 8 2/3 innings Wednesday night, the most significant thing that happened at Nationals Park was Stephen Strasburg's worrisome return from the disabled list, a shaky four-inning start that raised questions about the right-hander's health and stamina.

Then with one dramatic swing, Ryan Zimmerman stole the show and added to his already impressive legacy with the 11th walk-off homer of his career, propelling the roller coaster that is the 2018 Nationals to back-to-back wins over the Phillies and keeping hope alive for another day.

Lost among the chaos was a just-as-important reason the Nats were able to pull off this 8-7 victory: the work of their much-maligned bullpen.

That group was far from perfect. Handed a tie game in the fifth, it quickly turned it into a two-run deficit after Wander Suero and Justin Miller each surrendered a run.

But when it came to crunch time, the Nationals' relief corps got the job done.

It began with Tim Collins, brought in to face Justin Bour with two outs in the seventh. Bour, who had doubled and homered off Strasburg earlier, was caught looking at a 3-2 pitch at the knees to end that inning.

It continued in the top of the eighth with Greg Holland, the veteran dumped by the Cardinals earlier this summer who retired the side to keep the game within striking distance.

And it culminated in the top of the ninth, which saw rookie Jimmy Cordero induce three ground balls yet find himself facing a bases-loaded jam with one out. Cordero calmly got Asdrúbal Cabrera to foul out to third base, then gave way to Matt Grace, summoned to face Bour in a huge spot.

Grace shouldn't have been available at all, not after throwing 34 pitches over two-plus innings Tuesday night after a 1-hour, 42-minute rain delay halted Tanner Roark's start only three innings in. But manager Davey Martinez knew Bour was looming in that inning, and Grace was the only other left-hander in the bullpen.

"I want to give a shout out to Matty Grace," Martinez said unprompted after the game. "Because he wasn't supposed to pitch today, and we called him and said: 'Hey, we need you to face one hitter, if possible. Can you do it?' And he said: 'Yeah, absolutely.' And he got a big out for us."

That he did. Grace struck out Bour to leave the bases loaded and leave the Nationals facing only a one-run deficit. Juan Soto and Zimmerman took care of the rest and lifted the Nats to an electrifying win.

But who knows if they ever would've had the opportunity to do it if not for the work put in by six teammates out of the bullpen.