Washington clears a path for Suero to bolster bullpen

ST. LOUIS — After the Nationals traded away Brandon Kintzler, manager Dave Martinez said part of the reasoning was that Kintzler’s spot would create room for Wander Suero, who the Nationals felt deserved one. He could provide innings Kintzler couldn’t, Martinez explained.

Martinez, of course, had to give the filtered company line, not delve into the finances behind the deal or the front office concerns about Kintzler’s clubhouse presence. But his answer was not at all a lie. The Nationals believed Suero could help their bullpen and wanted to give him a chance to do so regularly.

Since he was recalled from the minors on deadline day, Suero has pitched to a 3.48 ERA in 31 innings. He is striking just less than a batter per inning. Importantly for this bullpen, four of his seven appearances in that span have required more than one inning.

Suero relieved Jeremy Hellickson after he left Wednesday night’s game with an injury, inheriting a runner at third and 2-2 count on Yadier Molina. Molina singled, but Suero recovered to retire the Cardinals’ No. 3 and No. 4 hitters before allowing another run on two hits in the sixth. That he could not give them more than four outs qualified as a surprise because Martinez and the front office are growing in their faith in the right-hander, who could be positioning himself as a part of future bullpen plans, not just a stopgap.

“I look at Wander Suero, who was a one-inning guy who we kind of forced him into being a multiple-inning guy, and he’s accepted his role and done really well,” Martinez said this week. “Here’s a guy who we didn’t know what he was going to do - they told us he would get lefties out because he has a cutter — but here he is getting lefties and righties out. So it’s good to see.”

Suero is holding right-handers to a .213 batting average and left-handers to a .196 average. The key in both cases is that cutter, a pitch Suero honed to great effect last year in the minor leagues while pitching to a 1.79 ERA over 54 appearances between Class AA Harrisburg and Class AAA Syracuse. Suero didn’t get a September call-up last year, which qualified as surprising. He did win the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year award.