Barrett returns to pitch at Nats Park for first time in four seasons

There were a lot of special moments for the Nats during the regular season that ended with today's 8-2 win over the Indians, but one of biggest to tug at the heart strings was the return of reliever Aaron Barrett.

The right-hander came back to the big leagues after multiple setbacks, surgeries and rehabs in early September to pitch for the Nationals for the first time since 2015.

Barrett tossed one shutout inning in relief Sept. 7 at Atlanta. Afterward, he cried uncontrollably in the dugout with his teammates and coaches around him for support, overwhelmed at a moment many thought would never happen again. Barrett had returned to pitch in the big leagues after battling for more than four years to get his arm back healthy.

On Sept. 12 he struggled in an appearance at Minnesota, and then did not pitch most of the rest of the month.

Until Sunday, Barrett had yet to pitch at Nats Park this season. But in the regular-season finale, manager Davey Martinez made the call for Barrett.

The outing did not start off well. Barrett allowed singles to Jake Bauers and Kevin Plawecki to begin the seventh inning. He forced pinch-hitter Eric Haase to fly out to right field.

In his biggest battle, Barrett got leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor to pop out to third base for the second out. But with Bradley Zimmer batting, Barrett was charged with a wild pitch when his offering got by catcher Raudy Read. Bauers scored from third base. Zimmer walked.

"I remember facing Lindor coming up in the minor leagues," Barrett recounted. "It's definitely a guy I was familiar with. At the end of the day you just got to go out there and compete. Sometimes you don't have your best stuff, you don't have your command, you just got find a way. A lot of stuff was going on, so I was just trying to find it, take a deep breath and try to find a way to make pitches."

With two men on, Barrett got Greg Allen to fly out to center field on a curveball. It was the sixth pitch of the at-bat and his 29th of the inning. He finished one inning and the Nats still led 7-2.

"Fastball command wasn't as well as I would've liked it to be," Barrett said. "Being able to throw the breaking ball in there, kind of was able to get my release point back at times. I could definitely tell my timing wasn't the best. That's why my fastball location wasn't sharp as I would've liked. But I hadn't pitched in a while too. But you can't make excuses. You got to go out there and try to find a way to get guys out."

The skipper said Barrett deserves a bit of leeway because of his long road back. This was the mound where he felt elbow pain in 2015, and had battled through that pain to try to stay in games.

"I think the ending went fairly well for him because he's riding a lot of emotion," Martinez said. "Four years ago, if you would've told me that he was going to be on a big league mound pitching, I would've thought you were crazy. It's a testament to how hard he works. He's pitching in the big leagues, and not too many guys can say that. But he's back in the big leagues and pitching, and I'm very, very proud of him."

"It wasn't in a good place, that's for sure," Barrett said as he remembered that painful 2015 campaign. "I really prided myself on being able to be a guy to take the ball every day. I wanted to be the guy to come in jams, runners on, get out of the situation.

"It's just one of those things where I thought could do it, thought I could get through it. Looking back on it, I definitely learned a lot from that situation. I think I'm a better player for it. Compared to how my arm felt that day compared to today, definitely a lot better."

Barrett and Erick Fedde held the Indians to one run over the final three innings. The Nationals went on to win 8-2 over the Indians to finish the regular season 93-69, and now look ahead to the National League wild card Tuesday night against the Brewers.

Barrett's appearance Sunday was his first at Nats Park since Aug. 5, 2015.

"It was pretty cool," Barrett said. "Obviously, the first one in Atlanta was the first one being back in the big leagues. The last time I was able to pitch in the big leagues was off this mound, so just being to get back off that mound again in front of the home crowd, game 162, the fans were incredible. I felt their energy and the amount of support that I've had from them. That was really cool. So that was definitely a special moment, for sure."

A crowd of 36,764 cheered Barrett on as he fought through the up-and-down inning. He managed to get out of the frame allowing only one run.

"I was trying to take deep breaths and trying to focus on the task at hand, but for sure haven't had that type of adrenalin rush in a long time," Barrett said. "I definitely felt it. Looking forward to seeing that type of crowd and that environment on Tuesday. I imagine they are going to bring it. That was just a special moment, for sure."

So with the accomplishment of an entire regular season under his belt, from his time with Double-A Harrisburg to back here with the Nats, Barrett said his confidence for 2020 is building.

"Just being back in the big leagues and realizing I've done it," Barrett said. "It definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into spring training now that I've made the comeback. I've pitched at home. It definitely gives me a great offseason moving forward. I know I'm healthy and looking forward to, obviously, next year but right now I'm here to root on these guys on Tuesday and whatever they need from me, and I'm really looking forward to it."