Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats 5-1 over Giants in opener in San Francisco; Jake Irvin impressive again…

Front Page – Irvine Strong vs Giants:

26-year-old Jake Irvin, a 2018 fourth-round selection out of the University of Oklahoma, gave up a walk after hitting a batter on his first pitch in his major league debut and settled down after hitting an RBI single in the bottom. In his first game in the capital last week, he threw over three clean and impressive frames after allowing an early run.

Irvin told reporters after the outing that he quickly realized that he had done everything he had done before, and once he started pitching, the tension was gone.

“It’s the same 60 feet 6 inches everywhere,” says Irvin. “So I make pitches all year long, just like I’ve done my whole career. But it’s nice to have a guy like Keevert.” [Ruiz] back there.

“We talked after the first game. He was very calm. He’s one of a kind, so that definitely helps.”

“After the first inning,” said Nats manager Davey Martinez after the 2-1 win. chicago cubs.

“I sat down and said, ‘You’ve covered all the bases, you’ve hit your opponent, you’ve walked your opponent, your opponent has scored, so now you’re loose and you’re going to throw a strike.’ ’ And he handled it really well. ”

Explaining the decision in consultation with Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, Martinez did not allow Ervin to make another start right away.

“He’ll get his chance,” said the sixth-year skipper. “Like I said, I thought he threw the ball so well that he’ll be out and pitching on Monday.”

“We got the first one out of the way,” Martinez added. It’s always the first inning that you have to get over. Once you get past that, it all becomes clear and it looks like he’s started to do what he’s supposed to do.

“He’s got great stuff. He has to hit the strike zone and throw a strike one.”

When he got on the mound, Irvin was working with a 5-0 lead, throwing first-pitch strikes to two of the bottom three hitters in a game against the Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, striking out and ending the inning. double play. After leadoff man Lamonte Wade Jr. bunted to start the inning’s home half.

Irvin erased a leadoff walk with a 6-3 DP in their second first two matchup and put up a 15-pitch scoreless frame in the second timeout after a 7-pitch first pitch. He scored his third double play on a ground ball from JD Davis after scoring his double with a one-out third in his 19th pitch. Start the 4th. A fly to right by Michael Conforto ended an inning of 16 pitches.

With 10 pitches, 1-2-3 at No. 5, Irvin went 5 scoreless in just 67 pitches (a 5-0 lead), took the Giants in order at No. 6, and completed the 12-pitch frame with 79. bottom. total.

A one-out single and a walk in the seventh ended Irvin’s outing with 92 pitches overall.

Although Irvin produced only five swing strikes in the match, he scored 16 call strikes, nine of them on curveballs, leaving his two runners stranded, Carl Edwards Jr. got two outs on two balls. mound…

Jake Irvin quotes: 6.1 IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 5Ks, 92P, 54S, 5/4GO/FO.

‘He’s out there, he’s competing,’ Martinez said after a 5-1 victory in the series opener

“The best thing is he’s around the zone and throwing strikes,” added the coach.

“The defense played really well behind him. We had some really good double plays. increase.”

“I loved watching him pitch. It was a lot of fun. In my second start, he did really well.”

Irvin made just one big mistake during the post-match press conference.

“I just got out there and made a pitch,” he said, evaluating his outing. San Fran”

“Like I told you guys last week, it’s the same 60 feet 6 inches,” he said when asked about his success at the first road start.

“It’s definitely a different vibe. You don’t have a crowd behind you. But I think the minor leagues are like that. You feel it along the way and you learn a lot about it, so keep making the same pitch.”

point?:

The visiting Nationals started the series opener in San Francisco with four straight singles, but Keibert-Lewis, who hit third of four, was thrown out between first and second, allowing Lane-Thomas to ‘run out’. d Start inning on single, stop on third (Surprisingly?) Hang the catcher to dry.

Joey Meneses stepped with runners on second and third instead of the bases loaded and passed down the right flank to give the Nats a 1–0 lead against the Giants early at Oracle Park.

One out later, Dominic Smith hit an opposing single-through short to put Luis Garcia in to make it 2–0 against San Francisco starter Anthony Descraffani.

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Alex then hit a RBI double into the right-center gap with a soft liner and hit the 3rd to make it 3-0.

CJ Abrams drove to center on a two-out single to give Davey Martinez’s club a 5-0 lead in the opening frame.

All their runs came in the first innings of a 5-1 win before DeSclafani settled, but that was more than enough.

“We don’t want to chase. We want the ball in the zone. Today they did a great job of doing that,” manager Davey Martinez said of the early run.

“Like I said before, you have to get the ball in the zone. Well done.

It’s an approach he always preaches, but he wanted Knott’s hitters to be aggressive early, especially against Descraffani.

“We know he throws a lot of strikes,” Martinez said.

“That’s what we talked about in the meeting and they went out there and like I said, we took strikes and they hit the ball hard.

BACK PAGE – Roble To IL; Aluminum Up:

Victor Robles is on the injured list for 10 days (Dating back to May 7th) Jake Al’s call-up has become official after multiple reports that the 26-year-old had back spasms before last night’s game and was on his way to San Francisco for the 2019 Round 24 pick.

Before the series opener against the Giants, there wasn’t much to update on the Robles.

“He came in today, got treatment and still feels the same,” Davey Martinez told reporters at the pre-match press conference at Oracle Park.

“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a few days before he feels really good. So there will be no real additional updates.”

Mark J. Levilas-USA TODAY Sports

Alu has primarily played third, second and a little left field. Martinez said he will likely make the majority of his plate appearances in the outfield, as that is where the club needs to be right now. .

“We want to put Jake in there against right-handed pitching. Although he mentioned that Al sure… a bat while he was awake.

“He can do a lot of different things,” added the manager. “He played third, second and last year left field. It felt good enough to play in the outfield.

[ed. note – “Alou started the year on the IL after suffering a knee sprain this spring.”]

“So, like I said, because Robles went missing, [Alu’s] Playing time is probably in the outfield, so I wanted to bring him to the outfield and let him do his job.

The fact that Alu got a 24th-round pick is something of an organizational success story, but mostly a story of hard work by infielders.

“He’s a hard worker,” Martinez said. “And I got to know him early in January of this year, and I’ve seen him work during spring training. Got the right to stand here.They moved him to another position but he played well.Suddenly last year they got him in left field and he did well there.But he can hit, he can hit the ball, he can put the ball in play, and we love him for that, so he got the opportunity to play here, he can hit the plate here. will acquire the

Heating Menese?:

In his last 10 games, he went 3-for-5 with 4 RBI performances on Sunday. Joey Meneses fired his second HR of the season and in Arizona he led the Nationals in the top of the ninth. Like hitters who were in the majors and minors in 2022.

Meneses went 13-42 (.310/.310/.381) in 10 games leading up to the season opener in San Francisco last night, with 12 singles and a home run.

“For me, it’s about his timing and going on time,” said Davey Martinez when asked by the manager about Meneses’ recent transformation after a relatively slow start. “He’s a guy who stays on the ball really well. He’s just a click behind sometimes. On top of that [home run] He swung on time, put his foot down, stayed behind the ball, and put it in the air. But he hits the ball hard. It’s only a matter of time before he gets the ball forward and starts hitting it in the air. ”

Meneses drove to the first of five runs the Nationals scored in the first inning last night, ending 2 for 4 with the runs scored in the win.