The Nationals had an uncharacteristically easy 6-1 win last night. Josh Bell stayed hot and the offense did a good job adjusting to Chase Burns after struggling to pick him up early in the game. However, the story of the night was a guy most Nats fans had never heard of before, 27 year old reliever Konnor Pilkington.
Pilkington was called up yesterday to give the Nats a fresh arm out of the bullpen. MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin failed to go deep into their starts and Brad Lord was not going to either. That meant the Nats needed a fresh arm.