Paolo Espino gave up two of the four runs the Braves scored in a 4-3 win over Washington in Atlanta last week, with six hits and a walk allowed in a 65-pitch, four-inning outing, in his 6th start since moving from the bullpen into the Nationals’ starting rotation.
It was the fourth time in six outings he didn’t make it through the fifth inning, something his manager, Davey Martinez, said would change as he builds up endurance.
“The big thing that we talked a lot about,” Martinez said early in the transition, “... is that he has to get over that — just that four-inning, five-inning [threshold], and I always told him, hey look, if you get an opportunity it’s six, seven-plus, you got to get yourself to that, and he’s learned how to try to get himself to that point.