With quick hooks, Nationals are getting Hellickson's best

Time was when 61 pitches through 5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball wouldn't prompt anyone seated in a bullpen to so much as stretch his legs.

These, however, are different times. Teams across the sport are pulling their starters - especially fourth and fifth starters - before they have a chance to face an opposing lineup the third time through, no matter how effective and how efficient they've been to that point.

And the Nationals are now one of those teams. Especially when Jeremy Hellickson is the starter in question.

Neither conventional wisdom nor the eye test would have suggested the 31-year-old was ready to be pulled after allowing a two-out single to Pirates leadoff man Adam Frazier in the top of the sixth of a scoreless game this afternoon. But the analytics did. Opponents own an .839 OPS in their third plate appearance against Hellickson in a game. Gregory Polanco, the next man up for Pittsburgh, owns an .859 OPS in his third plate appearance against a starter in a game.

So for Davey Martinez, the decision was simple.

"I don't like doing it, because he's pitching his butt off," the first-year Nationals manager said. "But I have to think about the other 25 guys. He kept us in the ballgame. That's all we're asking: Keep us in the game."

Hellickson indeed kept the Nationals in the game. Sammy Solís did likewise when he got Polanco to fly out to deep right field on his lone pitch of the afternoon. Trea Turner and Ryan Zimmerman gave the Nationals the lead with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the sixth. And Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle combined to record the remaining nine outs (the final five by Doolittle in a rare, multiple-inning save) to secure a 3-1 victory, a four-game sweep of the Pirates, a five-game winning streak and a return to the .500 mark for the first time in two weeks.

This was a textbook example of a new-age win. A dominant starter getting pulled before ever getting into a jam. The club's best reliever being used in the highest-leverage situation, even if that came in the eighth inning.

"With the season going the way it's gone so far, we wanted to make sure," said Doolittle, whose only other five-out save in the majors came three seasons ago with the Athletics. "Davey was trying to play the matchups that gave us the best chance to close out this series and lock down a winning streak. I think that was some of the reason for some of the moves that he made. Fortunately, it worked out."

It worked out for the Nationals as a team, but it also required some deft human relations between the manager and the players involved in those unconventional decisions.

Hellickson, who similarly was pulled from his last start after surrendering a home run in the sixth innings despite a miniscule pitch count of 57, couldn't hide his frustration from the crowd of 30,434 after handing over the ball to Martinez today.

"I mean, I would've liked a chance to get out of that," said the right-hander, who has averaged only 75 pitches in each of his four starts after signing with the Nats in late-March. "But he thought that was best right there. I think part of the reason is I didn't get a real spring training in, and I never really got to six, seven innings before I left spring training. So probably taking it a little slow. But we won game. That's all that matters."

Martinez made a point to talk to Hellickson afterward, give him a hug and assure him this is all part of the plan. And that plan could change if he keeps pitching this well as he builds up his arm strength.

"Once we get going, once the summer gets going, he'll get better," the manager said. "He's been really good for five innings, he really has. I anticipate that he'll give us some more length as the weather gets a little hotter and he gets going."

Given the shaky state of the back of their rotation for two seasons now, Hellickson has been something of a revelation since his arrival. He hasn't lasted long enough to be credited with any decisions yet, but he's got a 3.00 ERA in four starts, striking out 13 with only four walks, all while averaging about 14 pitches per inning.

"Playing against him and watching for so long, you kind of know what you're going to get," said Zimmerman, 3-for-17 in his career against Hellickson. "I mean that as a good compliment. If that's your fourth or fifth starter, it's a heck of a guy to have to chew up some innings. And when he's on like he was today, he can be really good as well."

Even if the Nationals are only asking him to be "really good" for 5 2/3 innings.

"Keep us in the game, that's all I ask," Martinez said. "Keep us in the game, and we'll be fine."