Nats pitching actually benefits from rainout

PHILADELPHIA – Rainouts and doubleheaders are usually bad news for pitchers. A pregame or warmup routine can be thrown off if the game isn’t called until too close to the first pitch. And 18 innings, with the potential for more, are a lot to cover in a single day.

But for the Nationals, last night’s rainout and today’s doubleheader against the Phillies might actually benefit their pitching staff.

Despite a plethora of injuries, the Nats bullpen has been one of the best in baseball in recent weeks. The Nats currently have seven relievers on the injured list, with the latest casualty being Mason Thompson landing on the 15-day IL with a left knee contusion.

But over their last 16 games, the Nats bullpen has posted a collective 2.39 ERA, the best in the National League and third-best in the majors during that span. Relievers have also posted a 1.139 WHIP and 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings over 52 ⅔ innings since July 21.

“I think we're starting to realize that we need to attack the strike zone and get ahead,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame press conference before yesterday’s postponement. “That's been the biggest difference right now for our bullpen guys is that we're really emphasizing getting ahead of hitters, attacking them early and not put yourself in a hole. And these guys have done that, and they've done really well.”

The bullpen has been very successful as of late, throwing 14 ⅓ straight scoreless innings since Aug. 2, with a .149 opponents’ average, 16 strikeouts and just five walks. They were essential with the 11 ⅓ scoreless innings they combined to throw over the weekend to help the Nats sweep the Reds in three games.

But there was a question of who would have been available if the Nats had played last night. Martinez’s three most trusted relievers as of now – Andrés Machado, Jordan Weems and Kyle Finnegan – all pitched in all three games in Cincinnati, likely leaving them unavailable to pitch Monday.

“Yesterday (Sunday) we thought a few guys were going to be off,” Martinez said. “They all came in and said they were ready to pitch again (Sunday), and they pitched and they did well. But we're getting to that point right now where we’ve got to be very careful. But we'll see how they feel.”

This impromptu off-day has now given the entire relief corps some well-deserved rest. Plus, the Nationals will be allotted a 27th man for today’s twinbill, so they can recall another reliever to their bullpen for these two games, providing an extra arm.

As for the rotation, they’re actually set for the foreseeable future.

The Nationals have two scheduled off-days over the next two weeks – one on each of the next two Mondays – and have the ability to use a six-man rotation with the addition of Joan Adon, who surprisingly took a perfect game into the sixth inning in his spot-start win on Saturday.

Trevor Williams, who returned from the bereavement list and was the scheduled starter last night, will start Game 1 today, with Josiah Gray, the original scheduled starter for Tuesday, starting Game 2. MacKenzie Gore and Patrick Corbin are scheduled to start the last two games of this four-game series in Philly, then some combination of Adon and Jake Irvin could start the first two games of the Athletics series at Nationals Park this weekend.

The Nats have thought about using a six-man rotation at some point to give their young starters some extra rest as we near the end of the season. Adon, who theoretically could also be used out of the bullpen at some point although he has a 5.40 ERA over two relief appearances this season, gives the regular starters an extra day. The upcoming off-days help, too.

It’s something we may get some answers on from Martinez later today. But for now, despite the rainout and doubleheader and with the upcoming off-days and addition of Adon, the Nats pitching staff is nicely set up.