CINCINNATI – The Nationals’ 4-1 victory over the Reds early Sunday evening was made possible by MacKenzie Gore’s gutsy five innings in the rain, and by Luis García Jr. and CJ Abrams’ clutch hits in the seventh that gave them the lead for good.

But the only way the Nats were going to be able to celebrate the win at the end of a long weekend and an even longer road trip was for their bullpen to protect that three-run lead.

It may not sound like much of an accomplishment. Bullpens should be counted on to protect three-run leads, yes? This bullpen, of course, did very little in the season’s first month to deserve that kind of trust.

But over the last several days, beginning Thursday in Philadelphia and continuing throughout the weekend in Cincinnati, the Nationals relief corps started pitching like a more reliable unit. And so by the time they took the mound at Great American Ball Park on Sunday, there seemed to be less fear of pending disaster and more confidence about a job well done than there had been at any previous point this year.

It all started with Jorge López, who was given the ball for the bottom of the sixth in relief of Gore. Like the bullpen as a whole, the veteran right-hander endured through a miserable opening month, owner of a 10.57 ERA on April 16 after he was ejected for allegedly throwing at the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen.

But since serving his dubious two-game suspension, López has flipped the switch and has started pitching like the capable late-inning reliever the Nationals believed they were getting all along. He has now delivered five consecutive scoreless appearances, capped off by the two zeroes he posted Sunday, needing only 19 total pitches to record six outs and get the game from the sixth to the eighth inning with the lead intact. (All five appearances came in close games, with the team either ahead or down by two runs or less.)

Jose A. Ferrer got the eighth, and while the enigmatic left-hander has been very hit-or-miss so far this year, he too was very good Sunday, retiring three of the four batters he faced, including the dangerous Elly De La Cruz. That’s now three straight scoreless appearances for Ferrer to begin the month of May.

By the time Kyle Finnegan took the mound for the bottom of the ninth, there seemed no reason for anyone to expect anything less than a quick conclusion to the game. Sure enough, Finnegan retired the side on 13 pitches, striking out the game’s final two batters to record his 11th save in 13 opportunities, brushing off his back-to-back blown saves to close out April with back-to-back simple saves to begin May.

And so a relief corps that looked abysmal four days ago suddenly looks to be stabilized for the first time in 2025. With left-hander Andrew Chafin now part of the mix – he struck out both batters he faced in his Saturday night debut – the Nationals appear to have four trusted options for the late innings.

Four good games don’t guarantee anything. There’s a long way to go before anyone can claim the Nats bullpen is a strength, or even merely an average unit.

But look at the major league team stat page this morning and take some comfort in this silver lining fact: The Nationals no longer have the worst bullpen ERA in baseball. At 6.55, they’re about a half-run better than the Angels’ 7.02 mark.

At this point, take what you can get.