Nats find closer in Pirates’ Melancon

The Nationals found a reliable pitcher for the ninth inning, acquiring All-Star Mark Melancon from the Pirates on Saturday.

The Nats gave up reliever Felipe Rivero and pitching prospect Taylor Hearn.

Melancon, 31, will supplant struggling Jonathan Papelbon as the Nationals’ closer. Melancon is expected to join the team Sunday.

The right-hander has converted 30 of 33 saves with a 1.51 ERA this season. He is making $9.65 million and is eligible for free agency after the World Series.

The Pirates are on the fringe of the wild-card race. While general manager Neal Huntington stressed the team remains committed to reaching the playoffs for a fourth straight season, the opportunity to deal Melancon — who led the majors with 51 saves in 2015 and had 33 the previous season — for two young arms with friendly long-term contracts was too good to pass up.

“We knew full well that holding Mark Melancon would have been a good return, but at the end of the day we felt this was a better return for us,” Huntington said.

Papelbon is 2-4 with a 4.41 ERA and has allowed eight runs and seven hits over his last three outings.

Rivero, a 25-year-old lefty, is 0-3 with a 4.53 ERA this season. But he is under team control through 2021 and hits 100 mph on the radar gun. Hearn, a 21-year-old lefty, was the Nationals’ fifth-round pick in 2015.

The Pirates will plug Rivero into a seventh-inning role, with Neftali Feliz working the eighth and Tony Watson closing.

Huntington hinted the Pirates may try to take the money they will save by not paying the remaining portion of Melancon’s contract and use it before Monday’s trade deadline. BALTIMORE Jones cf Kim lf Schoop 2b Machado 3b Davis 1b Trumbo rf Alvarez dh Wieters c Flaherty ss Hardy ss Joseph c Reimold lf-cf TOTALS TORONTO Bautista dh Donaldson 3b 1-Barney 3b Encarnacn 1b Saunders lf Carrera lf Tulowitzki ss Martin c Upton rf Pillar cf Travis 2b TOTALS 31 33 1 9 5 10 1 9 .268 .325 .283 .307 .222 .270 .249 .239 .221 .284 .198 .245 .220 .301 .282 .267 .282 .259 .241 .233 .111 .268 .291