Washington Nationals news & notes: Jake Irvin impressive effort; but not enough in Nats’ 2-1 loss to Mets…

Irvine, New York:

Jake Irvin pitched well again last night at Citi Field, coming off a six-inning victory against Atlanta in which he held the Braves to just one run on two hits, one walk and five strikeouts, earning him the seventh win. ¹⁄₃ The inning begins.

The 27-year-old Irvin allowed four hits and one earned run in that outing, again walking one and striking out five.

Irvin threw 94 pitches in 26 innings, 65 of which were strikes. MetsHe struck out every batter he faced, nine straight to start the night and 11 of the first 12, holding the home team scoreless through the seventh inning before leading off with a leadoff double in the eighth and, with two outs, reliever Derek Law came on to the mound and hit a one-run RBI single to score the only run in Irvin’s batting line, keeping the score tied at 1-1 after several innings, but the Mets won in extra innings, 2-1.

It was a fastball-heavy night for Irvin, who threw 41% sinkers and 38% four-seam fastballs, mixing in a curveball (17%) and a cutter (3%). He struck out just seven times, but earned 17 strikeouts, eight of which came on his sinker and five on his curveball (3 on the sinker, 1 on the cutter).

“He pitched really well. Today was probably the best day I’ve ever seen him pitch,” manager Davey Martinez said after the game.

“His two-seam was good. His four-seam was good. Everything was good. He gave us everything we needed.”

All they needed was for Irvin to make a bare-handed catch of a weak ball off the bat of Mark Vientos in the fourth inning and throw it to first base in time for the final out of the inning. Irvin was, as the manager put it, “freaked out” after the play…

“Unbelievable play,” Martinez said. “He had the awareness to step up and make a good pass like that. That’s amazing.”

“We were all excited, he was really excited, but he kept his cool, got back on the court and did a great job.”

The manager’s reaction to Irving’s response?

“He was excited. I looked at him, he turned around and looked at me and said, ‘OK.’

Unfortunately for Irvin and the Nationals, as Martinez said, the offense “just didn’t get him the few runs he needed.”

“Today, from my perspective, we played really well, we just didn’t score,” he explained. Despite having runners in scoring position and five men on base, the team went 1-for-10 and lost the game.

“We have to get the ball in the strike zone. We can’t chase it,” Martinez said, pointing out the offensive line’s problems. “When we get the ball in the zone, we can hit it with power.”

“Today, I swung at pitches outside the zone with two strikes and hit the ball on the ground when I should have tried to hit it in the air. You have to get the ball up in those situations.”

Abrams sits down again:

C.J. Abrams has missed his fourth straight game with a bruised left shoulder, but Nationals manager Davey Martinez explained ahead of the series opener against the Mets at Citi Field that the infielder had been in tough hitting situations and was just starting to find his groove at the plate before the injury, but the Nationals are taking a cautious approach with the 23-year-old shortstop.

Photo: Adam Hunger/Getty Images

“He’ll definitely be available to pinch-hitter today,” Martinez told reporters.

“We’re going to be very careful, but he’ll see some activity there and he’ll be able to pinch-hit.”

Of course, it would be great to have Abrams back in the lineup, but Martinez said the most important thing is for him to be healthy.

“For me it’s just about him being healthy the rest of the year. That’s the most important thing to me.”

“Then he can start, he can start his winter program right now, but he wants to play. He’s itching to get back.”

“He’s started swinging the bat well again, so he’s working hard with the trainers and strength staff to get back on the field.”

Abrams hit two home runs (his 19th and 20th) in the four games before the injury, but overall in the second half of the season (Following the first half of the season in which he was selected as an All-Star), he has struggled.

He finished his pre-ASG period with a .268 batting average/.343 on-base percentage/.489 slugging percentage with 21 doubles, six triples, 15 home runs, 30 walks and 80 strikeouts in 89 games and 398 at-bats, but before his shoulder issues began he was batting .179 with a .234 on-base percentage/.301 slugging percentage/.6 doubles, five home runs, nine walks and 45 strikeouts in 45 games and 188 at-bats after the suspension.

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images

“I think he tired a little bit in late August and into September, hitting-wise, mechanics-wise,” Martinez said, explaining Abrams’ poor performance late in the game.

“But you have to remember this guy hasn’t played a lot of baseball. He only had 500-600 at-bats in the minor leagues when we got him, played a full year last year and came into his own in the first half of this year, but when you’re that young, it’s a long season. So hopefully he learned something this year about preparation and how to prepare himself to play a full year like he did in the first half, and I know he did.”