Treinen lets his pitches do the talking for first save of season

The Nationals' 4-2 comeback win over the Marlins on Monday marked the first save for closer Blake Treinen. Treinen earned the save by getting the heart of the Miami lineup in 1-2-3 fashion.

One of the biggest pitches in the ninth inning was a 3-2 slider to Justin Bour that struck out the home run hitter for the second out. Treinen then got Marcell Ozuna on a called third strike to end the game.

Treinen, in his first year as a closer, joked that he most likely wouldn't have challenged a hitter like Bour early on in his career.

"Two years ago they probably would have intentionally walked him to get to Ozuna," Treinen said smiling. "I think I've only faced Bour maybe once and that was in spring training the year he first made the club."

Catcher Matt Wieters said Treinen wanted that 3-2 slider to Bour.

"Yeah, he wanted that one," Wieters said. "That's good because I want to give him the liberty to be able to do that and have the confidence of knowing that 'Hey, that's the pitch.' I agree with him. I thought it was the right pitch. At the same time, he also has a great sinker that could have been the right pitch as well. He's got multiple weapons. It's a matter of him getting ahead and working ahead."

Treinen used the emotion of the moment to help him instead of spinning out of control. That ability to harness his emotion is born from his confidence in his pitches - that they are good enough to get this lineup out.

He ended up getting Giancarlo Stanton, Bour and Ozuna for a 1-2-3 ninth.

"I had a little bit more emotion today than typical," Treinen said. "I think it's good to pitch with emotion, but I was able to take some pretty good focus to the mound, execute a couple of pitches which was really good after the outing a few days ago. So just take it and roll with it. I was really pleased with the execution of my pitches.

"I thought Matt called great sequences to all three guys. Even my misses I thought were pretty competitive, so I can't be too mad about those. Overall, it's a great way to start the season as a team, get the first win out of the way, just continue to roll with it."

Wieters has worked with a pitcher like Zach Britton, who transitioned into an outstanding closer. Is Treinen similar to Britton?

"The sinker he has, you can make those comparisons," Wieters said. "Granted it's going to have to be a larger body of work. The fact that him having that pitch that a hitter is going to have to cheat on to get to it's tough to hit. It's a matter of him having confidence to throw that at any time for a strike is big for him."

Treinen has the stuff to get guys out. But many talk about how nice a guy Treinen is. Would that "Mr. Nice Guy" translate into a closer role, which normally is reserved for the fiery bad guy?

"I saw a guy who wanted to prove he could do it," said shortstop Trea Turner. "I think everyone tells him that he's a nice guy, because he is. But he was fired up. He wants to get the job done for us. It was awesome. It was great seeing him get that first one out of the way and now hopefully he can continue to do that."

Right fielder Bryce Harper, whose solo homer netted the first run of the season for the Nats, agrees that Treinen has the right attitude to be a closer, even though he may not be the type of closer that is in your face.

"He really did everything he could to get ready this spring to be our closer," Harper said. "He came in with the right mentality this year and we saw that today. He showed that today. Tip my cap to him for taking advantage of his role in spring training and getting it done. He did a great job for us today against the Marlins."

The way about Treinen is more of the quiet assassin. He's your best buddy and then he strikes you out. He didn't openly campaign for the closer gig in spring training. And manager Dusty Baker noticed.

"We asked him that last day when we made up our minds," Baker recalled. "He said he would love the opportunity to close. He certainly has the stuff to. I asked him why he never stressed that or mentioned that to us, and he said that wasn't his place to do it. He's an awfully nice guy with very good stuff on the mound and very respectful. There are a lot of guys who would have been politicking for that. He said he wanted it, but only after we asked him."

Treinen was named the closer because he had the right combination of stuff, experience and mentality - demonstrating that it's the pitch that can intimidate the hitter in the end, not whether you are menacing or nastier than the other guy.

"It means a lot that they chose me," Treinen said. "But my goal coming in was to perform well, to earn whatever spot they decided to give me. It's not going to change my approach. It's not going to change my confidence and my ability that I've been blessed to have. God gifted me with a sinker. I just need to be aggressive with it. Today I was. I executed some off-speed pitches when I needed to. Hopefully there's many more to come of those."