“For me it’s another one of those good, feel-good stories,” Davey Martinez said of his choice of Paolo Espino as the starter for the Washington Nationals in the nightcap of their matchup with the Philadelphia Phillies in the nation’s capital last night.
In need of a starter for the second game of the doubleheader between the NL East division rivals, Martinez called upon the 33-year-old veteran, who pitched at Triple-A Fresno in 2019, but hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2017. Espino re-signed with the organization in 2019, after an earlier stint with the franchise, and then spent the summer of 2020 at the Alternate Training Camp in Fredericksburg, VA, before a shot to return to the big leagues presented itself.