On Fedde's turnaround, Castro's RBIs and Hand's pitch count

The 2021 debuts of Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison, and the effect they had on the Nationals lineup, were the dominant storyline to Monday night's game. But this 5-2 victory was made possible by several other players and several other developments worth exploring a bit deeper ...

* Fedde's 180
After Erick Fedde was rocked by the Braves in his season debut five days earlier, who saw this coming? The right-hander completely reversed course against the Cardinals, allowing just one run on two hits over 4 2/3 strong innings to dramatically change the narrative about his start to the season.

How did Fedde do it? By commanding four different pitches (sinker, cutter, changeup and curveball). By upping his sinker velocity to 94-96 mph. By completely shutting down the heart of the St. Louis lineup (Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Yadier Molina, Dylan Carlson and Paul DeJong went a combined 0-for-8 with five strikeouts against him).
And by mentally telling himself not to think too much about his previous start.

"I didn't want to over-panic, or immediately say one bad outing was going to be something that was going to make me change everything and hit the panic button," Fedde said during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "If anything, it was just: Stay calm and remember where I was at, and try to get back to that point. ... Nobody wants to start the year off the way I did. You just can't let it snowball. I tried my best to not allow that happen. And luckily today, things went really well."

Fedde even found himself contributing at the plate. He drew a five-pitch walk in the top of the third. And he nearly beat out a bunt in the top of the fifth, only to be called out for interfering with pitcher John Gant's offline throw to first. (Fedde essentially was called out for the same reason Trea Turner was in Game 6 of the 2019 World Series: He was running in fair territory as the ball approached and ultimately struck him.)

"They said I was outside the baseline," he said. "But I think it was more just a bad throw made it look that way."

Speaking of that, Fedde appeared to pull up lame for a few seconds after the play and grabbed his left upper leg, causing some to worry he might have pulled a muscle. He did not. He was reacting to getting hit by the errant throw in an unfortunate spot.

"It felt like something bit me in my butt," Fedde said, perhaps channeling his inner Forrest Gump. "Everyone was like: 'Is your hamstring OK?' I was really just kind of shocked that I got hit by something."

* Castro's RISP prowess
Nobody in the Nationals lineup may benefit more from the additions of Bell and Schwarber than Starlin Castro, who now finds himself batting sixth, behind those two sluggers, who bat behind Turner and Juan Soto.

What that means: Castro is going to come up with runners in scoring position a lot. It's already happened seven times in seven games, and he has produced, going 4-for-6 with a sacrifice fly and five RBIs. His propensity to make contact comes in handy in those situations

"I think it's one of my goals: Try to put the ball in play, because for the most part I'm going to have people on base probably every at-bat," Castro said. "That's kind of the approach I'm working on with (hitting coach Kevin Long). Just get ahead in the count quick and look for a pitch to hit right away. Instead of taking pitches, be ready to hit right away, because maybe it's going to be my pitch that I can drive the guy home."

The guy batting directly in front of Castro - a former teammate of his with the Cubs - believes he's the right man for this particular job.

"I think this guy's a really underrated hitter in this game," Schwarber said. "This guy, he's a stud. He wants to be out there. He's going to post. And when he's in that box, you always think something good is going to happen. You think he's going to hit the ball hard. ... I've seen it before, and I'm really excited to be playing with him again."

* Bullpen's usage
For the first time this young season, Davey Martinez was able to deploy his bullpen in his preferred manner to protect a late lead. And though it wasn't a perfectly clean performance from that group, it was effective.

Kyle Finnegan got out of the jam he inherited from Fedde in the fifth, inducing a groundball out of Tommy Edman with two on and two out. He gave up a homer to Molina in the sixth but also struck out Arenado and Carlson with 96 mph fastballs.

Tanner Rainey pitched the seventh, and though his fastball velocity remains in the 94-95 mph range, he figured out how to turn to his slider to get out of the inning with a zero on the board.

Daniel Hudson made his first appearance since opening day and cruised through a 1-2-3 eighth, again facing the heart of the St. Louis lineup.

And Brad Hand closed it out with his first save as a National, though he was forced to throw 26 pitches, not entirely of his own fault. Plate umpire Dan Bellino squeezed Hand on several pitches that appeared to be strikes, including one that would've ended the game two batters sooner than it wound up ending.

That could come back to haunt the Nats tonight, because Hand (who also threw 11 pitches Sunday against the Dodgers) may not be available to make a third consecutive appearance.

"He was going to finish that game (Monday night)," Martinez said. "We'll have to think about tomorrow, see who we've got for tomorrow. But hopefully he's OK to close out the game."