Despite delay, Hand encouraged by Nationals debut

When Brad Hand signed with the Nationals and envisioned his first appearance with his new club, the veteran reliever probably pictured himself trotting in from the bullpen at Nationals Park in the season's opening series against the Mets, looking to close out a one-run game.

But pitching the eighth inning with his team trailing by three runs at Dodger Stadium, in the sixth game of the season? Uh, something would've needed to go terribly wrong for that scenario to play out.

Something indeed went terribly wrong. Hand was among the nine Nationals players who were forced into quarantine for a week either because they tested positive for COVID-19 or were deemed a close contact with someone else who did. He only joined the club Friday in Los Angeles. And because the Nats never led in the late innings, he never had a save opportunity.

Instead, manager Davey Martinez was left to get Hand into Sunday's 3-0 loss just to make sure he finally got some work after a long layoff.

"He needed to go out there and pitch today, 'cause he hasn't gotten very much work," Martinez said during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "So we wanted to get him in the game."

It made for an anti-climactic debut for one of the best relievers in baseball, but maybe a soft landing was actually good for Hand in the long run.

"I felt normal," he said afterward. "I mean, obviously I hadn't been in a game in two weeks, but I tried to stay in shape, keep the arm moving when I was out for a little bit. Good to get in a game finally, and everything went pretty well."

Everything did go pretty well. Hand retired the side on 11 pitches, seven of them strikes. He got A.J. Pollock to fly out, Gavin Lux to ground out and Corey Seager to strike out on a fastball, perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the entire outing.

After hearing some lingering questions about his diminished velocity in Cleveland last season, Hand rediscovered it in his Nationals debut. His fastball averaged 93 mph, up 1.5 mph from 2020. And he reached 94 mph twice, matching his 2020 high point despite the circumstances.

"I think maybe I hit 94 (mph) twice last year," he said. "The two weeks off, not throwing in games, and hitting that today, it was pretty good to see. I feel like I'm in a good spot and am just trying to keep going."

Hand did all this after a bizarre week stuck in quarantine, with little assistance or interaction with others permitted. What was he able to do baseball-wise while holed up?

"Not a whole lot," he said. "I kept throwing, threw against a fence a few times, had one inning in Fredericksburg. Other than that, not a whole lot. Just doing some running, doing some stuff outside, but just trying to stay ready for when we were able to play."

Hand was able to pitch in a simulated game at the Nationals alternate training site after he was cleared to return Thursday. He then joined four others in a similar situation (Yan Gomes, Alex Avila, Jordy Mercer, Patrick Corbin) on a charter flight from D.C. to L.A. early Friday, arriving at Dodger Stadium in time for the 1:10 p.m. local time series opener.

Martinez said at the time he was hoping to avoid using any of the players in that game, but Hand did find himself warming up in the visitors' bullpen in the top of the ninth, just in case his teammates rallied to force the bottom of the inning.

They didn't, so he never entered the game. But that extra mound session allowed him to get his competitive juices flowing again and perhaps made Sunday's eventual debut a little less nerve-wracking.

More than anything, Hand was just glad to feel like he was part of his new team at last. Both on the mound and in the clubhouse following the strangest week of his career.

"Definitely didn't start off on a great note, missing the first few games," he said, "but glad to be able to meet the team here in L.A. and get in the game and kind of join the season. It's exciting. Obviously, we've got a lot more games left to play. Still getting to know everybody, but I'm excited to be with the team."