Nationals remain confident in bullpen after a shaky week

At the beginning of the season, if someone had told them the Nationals would be 43-42 after 85 games, most fans would’ve rejoiced.

Given that background and the knowledge that the lineup has produced the most runs in the majors through Sunday — even ahead of the big-money Dodgers — wouldn’t that be reason for celebration? For the first time since 2019, there is legitimate hope for a fan base that sat dormant as the team embarked on an aimless rebuild.

But instead of jubilation there’s a feeling the Nationals have left wins on the table. If the bullpen were just average, the team could be farther over .500. But those are the ebbs and flows of the season.

There was even trepidation from the fans during Sunday’s series-ending 6-4 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards after Mitchell Parker allowed a two-run homer in the seventh that cut the lead to two.

But the team has belief in its relievers. Right-hander Zack Littell — who threw five innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts and two walks Sunday — said the Nationals didn’t need a big team meeting or something similar to move past the Phillies series.

“It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re OK,’” Littell said. “These guys are going to come and play. It’s just baseball. I think that sometimes that gets lost, especially with a younger group, but stuff happens.

“The bullpen, especially the bullpen, is going to be hot. The bullpen is going to be cold. It sucks that it happened three days in a row against a team that we could have beat four games or so, but it happens.”

Even in Saturday’s 4-3 win, the bullpen almost cost the team the game after a sterling performance from Foster Griffin. Orlando Ribalta surrended the lead when he allowed two eighth-inning runs that tied the game at 3.

With a 4-3 lead in the 10th inning, right-hander Justin Lawrence loaded the bases but escaped to record the save to snap the four-game losing streak.

Last week against the Nationals, the Phillies became the first team to hit go-ahead homers in the ninth inning of three consecutive games. Before that, Washington led by eight runs in the eighth inning against the Giants and lost on a walk-off grand slam by rookie Bryce Eldridge.

There aren’t many levers for manager Blake Butera to pull that he hasn’t tried already. He used four pitchers (Richard Lovelady, Gus Varland, Ribalta and Brad Lord) in the ninth inning of the three late-game collapses against Philadelphia, and all failed.

Entering Sunday, Nationals relievers had the lowest strikeout rate (18.1%) and 13th-highest walk rate (10%) in the big leagues. Lacking big-time velocity requires them to be precise in their command.

“We’ve given every guy in the bullpen an opportunity to finish the game for us,” Butera said after Wednesday’s collapse. “We’re gonna keep trying to find that guy.”

On Sunday, it was left-hander PJ Poulin who assumed the challenge. He pitched two scoreless innings, walking one and allowing zero hits.

“He went out there as cool as can be, didn’t show any signs of nerves or being afraid or anything like that,” Butera said. “He went and attacked hitters and did an outstanding job.”

The team needs more relievers to show they want the ball in high-leverage spots. The Nationals lead the majors in blown saves and have the third-worst bullpen ERA (5.03).

​The lack of pitching depth in the upper levels of the minors only exacerbates the issue.

Varland was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after he allowed the go-ahead, two-run homer to former National Bryce Harper on Thursday night. Right-hander Zak Kent was recalled to replace him and pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and one walk Friday. But, with a fastball that sits at 92.4 mph, it’s unlikely he’s the answer to one of the late-inning spots.

And that’s the dilemma. This is the first year of Paul Toboni’s regime as president of baseball operations. He showed his priorities during the offseason when he entertained trade offers for CJ Abrams and pulled the trigger on a significant prospect haul for left-hander McKenzie Gore.

The prospects he acquired are in the infancy of their professional careers and years from impacting the majors.

But the Nationals are in the playoff hunt. It’s an interesting conundrum for Toboni, and he will have to ask himself many questions. Is it worth it to take wins from the future (trading prospects) to potentially add wins to the present?

There’s also the matter of the asking price at the deadline. It’s unlikely Toboni would deal from his top tier of prospects, so what level of prospect would it take to bring back a reliever who could add value? That’s an answer that will likely become clearer as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches.

Relievers are notoriously volatile. Surveying the majors paints that picture even more clearly due to the sheer number of teams dealing with high-priced relievers who are faltering. So what’s the fix? What can the team do?

The Nationals already emphasized count leverage and filling the zone with strikes, but the relievers have to execute. The team will have to continue cycling through options until it finds a modicum of stability.

Waiver claims such as Lawrence, who recorded the save in Saturday’s win, could become the norm. Lawrence is the classic high-risk flier that a rebuilding team should be taking a chance on. He has big-time velocity from a low slot angle.

But it’s becoming increasingly clear that bullpen stabilization is what stands between the Nationals continuing their surprising success and sputtering back toward the bottom.

“We’ve had a little bit of a tough stretch, but that’s why we got 162 [games],” Poulin said. “[We] just got to grind through it, keep our heads up.”