Seven relievers post five zeros in Nationals' win (updated)

Davey Martinez can wish for more innings from his rotation. Until it actually happens, he has no choice but to ask for a lot from his bullpen.

That unit couldn't finish the job Monday night during a gut-punch loss in Atlanta. Tonight, seven different relievers joined forces to pitch five scoreless innings and complete the job.

And when Daniel Hudson, pitching for the third straight day and only 24 hours removed from an ugly blown save, closed it out in the bottom of the ninth, the Nationals had themselves an exceptionally hard-earned 8-5 victory over the Braves.

"You see the way the game's playing out, you try to pick spots where you think guys are going to fit and get big outs," Martinez said during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "Games that are close like that, you put guys in situations where you think they're going to succeed. Those guys did really well, and I'm proud of all those guys."

Hudson was the seventh and final reliever to pitch, trusted to close by his manager, who insisted he would trust the veteran moments after he blew Monday's three-run lead with a pair of home runs. He responded with a 1-2-3, drama-free inning to end the game.

"He's our closer, and I told him that yesterday," Martinez said. "I told him I was going to get him back out there as soon as (we) get a save opportunity, and it was tonight."

All of this was necessary because of another short start from Austin Voth, who needed 83 pitches to complete four innings. So Martinez started cobbling together his bullpen plan for this game. It started off well, with Wander Suero tossing a scoreless fifth made possible by Victor Robles' home-run-robbing catch of Austin Riley's deep drive to center, then rookies Seth Romero and Dakota Bacus teaming up to post another zero in the sixth.

Now came the tricky portion of the night for the Nats manager. Will Harris, Tanner Rainey and Hudson all threw 20 or more pitches Monday, and Rainey and Hudson each pitched Sunday as well.

Martinez decided to go with Harris for the seventh, and though the veteran gave up a couple of singles he got through the inning unscathed on 17 pitches.

For the eighth, Martinez went off-script and gave the ball to Javy Guerra, who immediately got himself into a jam but did win a long battle with Freddie Freeman to record the first out of the inning.

So now Martinez went further off script and gave the ball to rookie Kyle Finnegan to face the Braves' third and fourth hitters in by far the biggest assignment of his nascent career. And Finnegan responded in impressive fashion, striking out Travis d'Arnaud and getting Marcell Ozuna to fly out to end the inning.

"In those spots, the hitters have a plan," said Finnegan, who has yet to give up a run in seven major league appearances. "They're trying to get those (runners) in. It's my job to get that hitter out of his plan as quickly as possible. I think strike one does that. Get two strikes on him as quickly as possible, and he's kind of in that defense mode and less of an attack mode there."

Voth seemingly was trying to pitch his way out of jams the entire night. He allowed 11 batters to reach base in four innings, and though he was able to wriggle his way out of major damage in the first and second, he couldn't do it in the third or fourth.

Riley's two-out, two-run single capped the Braves' third-inning rally. Freeman's two-run blast to right capped the fourth-inning rally and left Voth and the Nationals staring at a 5-2 deficit.

"Physically, I feel fine," Voth said. "Mechanically, I'm just searching right now. There are a couple things that I need to tweak, because I'm not executing my pitches right now. It's just hurting me. I'm having to work harder, and I'm racking up my pitch count and not able to go deeper in games, and it's hurting my bullpen, as well."

The Braves' Josh Tomlin was far more effective and efficient, though far from perfect. He gave up a two-out RBI single to Eric Thames in the second, then an RBI single to Asdrúbal Cabrera in the third. But when the Nationals couldn't take advantage of Luis García's leadoff double (later changed to a single and an error) in the fourth, Tomlin completed his requisite four innings on a respectable 51 pitches.

The strength of the Braves pitching staff is their bullpen, but the first reliever to take over tonight didn't fit that description. Lefty Tyler Matzek faced seven batters in the fifth and gave up hits to six of them, ultimately giving the Nationals the lead.

Trea Turner's triple got things started and was followed by a cavalcade of singles by Adam Eaton (RBI), Juan Soto (RBI), Cabrera, García and Yan Gomes (RBI). And when Thames' hot smash to first ate up Freddie Freeman just enough to give Cabrera time to score from third, the Nats had themselves a four-run rally and a 6-5 lead.

They wound up totaling 17 hits, 14 of those either up the middle or to the opposite field. They took an astounding 20 at-bats with runners in scoring position, picking up eight hits in the process.

"This team always hits," Thames said. "That's one thing I always see. It's not about the home run, like a lot of other teams. There's always somebody on base. Everybody loves hitting with guys in scoring position."

The sustained offense was nice, but the Nationals still needed 15 outs from their bullpen to win this game. A bullpen that has been getting a lot of work on this road trip, but tonight found a way to come together as a group and secure a difficult victory.

"So much of a great bullpen is being able to pick each other up," Finnegan said. "Every day, guys feel different. And every day, the situations will change as the game goes on. For us to use that many guys and for everybody to come in do their jobs tonight is huge for momentum and confidence for all the guys down there."