Nationals' Orlando Ribalta was entirely unexpected hero vs. Pirates originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.Teams don't really make a pitching plan for extra innings.They try to win the game in nine frames, and when it goes extras -- like Nationals-Pirates did on Thursday -- they improvise.Orlando Ribalta proved great at the improvisation on Thursday in Pittsburgh.The Nats took an 8-7 lead in the top of the 10th when James Wood singled home the bonus runner from second base.Ribalta entered for the bottom half, and despite giving up a leadoff infield single to Konnor Griffin, he saved the game.The righty Ribalta struck out Bryan Reynolds, then he got the speedy Jake Mangum to ground into a double play.MORE: A magical no-hit bid for the Cleveland GuardiansRibalta was credited with a game-high 44.8 Win Probability Added.

It makes sense, given he entered with a one-run lead and three outs to get while a guy was already on second base.Still, Ribalta is an unlikely hero. Before this season, he had pitched in 26 MLB games and had a 7.81 ERA.But he has now worked two scoreless innings this season for Washington. And this one was a big one.He's got solid stuff -- his heater to strike out Reynolds was 96.9 miles per hour.The next step for Ribalta will be continuing to deliver in high-leverage spots. This one was almost by accident, just the byproduct of being in extra innings.But if the Nats trust him again in a big spot, potentially on purpose this time, he'll have this experience to draw on to try and gain confidence and prove himself.More MLB news:Explaining the absurdity of 2 MLB players named Max MuncyThis hitter has a worse OBP than his batting averageMets have most depressing stat of this entire MLB seasonThis slider is really good and moves the entirely wrong directionThis second-generation relief pitcher is on an absurd wins pace