ATLANTA – It had been eight days since Kyle Finnegan took a mound in an actual game when he jogged out from the Nationals' bullpen in the ninth inning last night. And quite frankly, it was hard to know how it was going to go with him protecting a one-run lead.

Finnegan entered the tight ballgame with a 6.92 ERA in 27 career appearances, pitching on five-plus days of rest. The All-Star closer usually likes to pitch with more frequency, and when he doesn’t, he gets rusty.

So when the inning started with a leadoff single by Drake Baldwin on Finnegan’s second pitch, some dread probably sank into the hearts of Nats fans.

But the right-hander locked in and retired the next three batters on a scant 10 pitches, needing only 12 total to record his 13th save, which is now tied for second-most in the major leagues.

“You just try to stay ready,” Finnegan said Wednesday night. “We've had a lot of games that could have gone either way late. So I still felt like I was in that game mindset, which is good. But just pulling for the guys to go out there and perform. The ball wasn't bouncing our way, and that's why this one feels really good.”

“He attacked the strike zone,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He did things a little bit differently, and we did things differently with him. We got him up a few times just to get his heartbeat going, even though he wasn't going to pitch, to keep him going. He came in today firing bullets.”

In order to keep Finnegan fresh, the Nats had him warm up in the bullpen a few times as if he were going to enter the game. That way the eight days without an actual appearance didn’t feel like he was just sitting around and doing nothing for more than a week.

“It was a week, but it didn't quite feel like it,” he said. “I've had a lot of warmups down in the 'pen like that I might go in for the ninth, so that helps get you in that game mindset and keep you throwing off the mound. So that was good to do this time through, and I felt normal.”

Finnegan also incorporated a seldom-used pitch in his arsenal to get the last two outs. He rarely, if ever, throws a slider, but last night he threw it three times over the at-bats against Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna. Two of them landed for strikes.

“I've been trying to work it in and it matched up with some of those guys,” Finnegan said. “So just getting more confident with it, wanting to use it and feeling confident with it.”

* Mitchell Parker no longer had his left knee wrapped in a bandage this morning in the Nats' clubhouse. There was only a big bruise on the back of it.

Parker took a 107.2 mph comebacker from Riley off his left knee in the fifth inning of last night’s win. At 80 pitches, Martinez decided to take the lefty out as he departed the field with head athletic trainer Paul Lessard.

* Here are the probable pitching matchups for the series against the Orioles at Camden Yards on Rivalry Weekend:

Friday – LHP MacKenzie Gore vs. LHP Cade Povich
Saturday – RHP Jake Irvin vs. RHP Kyle Gibson
Sunday – RHP Michael Soroka vs. RHP Zach Eflin