How Doolittle made sure he could handle a five-out save

As he entered from the bullpen and took the mound with one out in the top of the eighth Thursday afternoon, Sean Doolittle knew two things to be true: 1. He was going to need to record five outs to earn the save and seal a Nationals victory over the Pirates. 2. Before he could even think about the final three outs, he was going to need to pitch his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth.

Which made for an interesting mind game for Doolittle in his first multiple-inning save opportunity in three seasons. He needed to give everything he had to get out of that jam, but he still needed to save something in the tank for the final frame.

"I think that you have to approach it like it's the ninth inning," the left-hander said. "For all intents and purposes, that's the game right there. They have bases loaded, one out. You have to go all-in every pitch. You know coming in: 'I have to figure out a way to get five outs.' But you really have to break it down pitch-by-pitch. ... It's almost like: 'I'll figure that out later. I gotta get this guy."

Doolittle pulled off that impressive tightrope act. With the bases loaded, one out and the Nationals leading by three runs, he got Gregory Polanco to ground into what looked like a tailor-made, 4-6-3 double play. Howie Kendrick and Trea Turner, though, couldn't quite make the turn in time, so Polanco was safe at first and one run scored.

But Doolittle responded by inducing a flyout from Starling Marte to end the eighth with the tying runners on base. And then he retired the side in the ninth to lock up a 3-1 victory and earn only the second five-out save of his career, his first since Sept. 30, 2015 with the Athletics.

Manager Davey Martinez doesn't necessarily want to make a habit out of asking his closer to pitch multiple innings, but this particular scenario - with setup man Ryan Madson struggling in the eighth - fit the bill for Doolittle to enter for an extended outing.

"Polanco versus lefty," Martinez said when asked why this was the right time to ask Doolittle for a five-out save. "I thought that was the perfect matchup for Doo to get out of that inning, and it was a big moment."

Indeed, those two at-bats in the top of the eighth represented the highest-leverage at-bats of the game. Sensing they might want to try something like this, the Nationals had been asking Doolittle to start warming up in the eighth a few times in previous games.

"They've called down several times this year to see if I felt like I was available to go more than one inning, just in case something happened in the eighth," he said. "So they've put that on my radar enough that I've started my routine a little bit earlier, so that I feel like, mentally and physically, I'm ready to go in the eighth, just in case. Today, it happened that the phone finally rang."

Once Doolittle got out of the eighth, he now faced another unusual situation: a half-inning sitting on the bench while his teammates batted before he could take the mound again.

Doolittle's method for dealing with that involved not sitting on the bench at all. He retreated to the clubhouse, where he put on a jacket to stay warm. Fellow reliever Brandon Kintzler, who had already pitched the seventh, started yelling at Doolittle to not sit down, to make sure he was staying loose somehow. So Doolittle went to the batting cage behind the dugout and simulated a few throws without a ball.

"I really didn't know what to do," he admitted. "It had been that long since I had gone more than one inning that I was like: 'Well, I know I don't want to sit down.'"

Whatever Doolittle did to stay warm, it worked. He cruised through the ninth and ended his day having thrown a total of only 17 pitches.

But how did he feel afterward? And will he be available Friday night against the Phillies?

"We'll find out," he said. "But I think the efficiency was key. I feel like my arm felt good. I just went through all my arm stuff back (in the trainers' room) and I still felt pretty good. So fingers crossed, but that went about as well as I could have hoped for."

Plenty of things are going well right now for Doolittle, who has a 1.84 ERA and six saves in as many opportunities. And he has been getting a chance to do things he hasn't done in a while from a workload perspective, so far emerging healthy and effective.

"I did three games in a row earlier this week," he said. "I got five outs today. So the training wheels are off, I guess."