Martinez likes Finnegan's work ethic, Fedde's versatility

The Nationals have entered a span of 13 days of games scheduled without a break. Last week they were off Monday and Thursday, not to mention having last weekend's entire series with the Marlins postponed because of the coronavirus.

Manager Davey Martinez said Friday he likes the notion of playing every day because it feels more like a normal season.

"For me, on the schedule we have 13 days straight," Martinez said on a Zoom video call. "We are just trying to get through the day. That's the way I look at it. Just try to focus on the day and worry about what happens to us today and go from there. But it's nice. If we do make 13 days straight, that'd be awesome. We have had enough days off. We are here to play baseball. I know the guys want to play. They want to be on the field, so let's go out and play and have some fun."

Friday was a rough one for the pitching staff in the 11-0 loss to the Orioles. Aníbal Sánchez allowed five runs, while Ryne Harper and Wander Suero each gave up three runs.

Martinez said he needs to get Suero more playing time after so much time off. That, more than anything, will get the right-hander back into a comfortable rhythm, he said.

"We've got to get him innings," Martinez said during a postgame video call. "He threw the ball better. I thought he threw the ball well. But we've just got to get him out there, get him built up. Today he was 91, 92 (mph), tops. We've just got to get him out there. When you miss that much time, you've just got to build your strength back up and get out there and face as many hitters as possible."

Suero surrendered three runs on four hits with one walk in his one inning of work. Kyle Finnegan relieved Suero and gave up one hit in one frame without allowing a run. In three appearances this season, the right-hander has allowed no runs in 3 2/3 innings. He has given up two hits with no walks and one strikeout.

Martinez says Finnegan put in the work since February to get to a point where he has a nice command of all of his pitches.

"The biggest thing for him is that we knew what kind of stuff he had," Martinez said. "His stuff is electric. It's honing in on the strike zone. He worked diligently in both spring trainings to just get ahead and throw strike one. We tweaked some things with him a little bit. It seemed to help him out. It's just about confidence with him. He's a fairly young kid, but he's throwing the ball really well.

"He's a guy that really excites me because he's got good velocity, he's got a good slider, good changeup. Hopefully, he continues to do what he does because we are going to need him. I put him in a pretty good situation the other day and he did really well. That was good to see."

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg is expected to finally make his season debut Sunday after being scratched way back on July 25 with a right wrist injury. Subbing in the interim has been right-hander Erick Fedde, who narrowly lost out to Austin Voth for the fifth starter role this season. Ironically, with the Strasburg injury, plus the recent hamstring issue for Max Scherzer, Fedde has become an integral part of the current starting rotation.

Fedde replaced Scherzer after 27 pitches Wednesday night against the Mets. He allowed only one run, scattering three hits over three innings, taking the hard-luck loss. But Martinez says Fedde has been incredibly important in the first two weeks of the season as he guides the club through injuries to their top two starters.

"It's nice to have a guy like Fedde that can do multiple things," Martinez said. "It wasn't easy for him the other day to sit around not knowing what was going to happen to Max and all of sudden after the first inning get ready and plop him in there. I thought he did great. Moving forward, I still view him as a guy that could possibly be the fifth starter or be the spot starter if somebody else goes down. He's that guy."

The focus for Fedde now is figuring out a way to keep the opponent guessing the second and third times through the order so they don't get a chance to sit on his stuff.

"With Fedde, I tell him it's all about consistency," Martinez said. "He understands that. But from what I have seen so far, he is throwing the ball well. The other day his sinker was unbelievable. He just couldn't really control it, but the movement on the ball was incredible. If we can get him honed in and throwing strikes, he's going to help us in many ways."

Depending on Scherzer's recovery, Fedde would be in line on the same five-day rest schedule, so he could start for the Nats next in Queens against the Mets on Aug. 10 or 11.