With two outs and runners on second base in the third inning of last week’s game against the Phillies at Nationals Park, Jake Irvin advanced to 0-2 against JT Realmuto after Trea Turner’s double and Bryce Harper’s intentional walk. . But on the next pitch, he left a curveball in the Philadelphia catcher’s zone.
Realmuto hit a 390-foot three-run shot to left-center field, accounting for three of the four runs the 26-year-old starter gave up in six starts.
“Overall the trip was really good,” Irvin told reporters. Quoted by MASN reporter Mark Zuckerman After Irvin entered the rotation for the second time this season.
“All it takes is one really bad pitch and that’s baseball.”
“He almost made an unbelievable pitch with one pitch left,” manager Davey Martinez said after the 5-2 loss.
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“But I thought he threw really good ball. He threw six innings, 93 pitches, and he threw the ball really well, so we just kept him there. ”
“He was 0-for-2 trying to bounce it back,” Martinez said of the pitch in question.
“He didn’t quite understand that part, but I told him, ‘Overall, Jake, you should be proud of what you did.’ It’s not an easy lineup to get through, and he went through those guys four times and did really well.
“So let’s use that as a basis to figure out whether we want it to bounce, bounce back, or make sure it hits the dirt.”
“He was really good. He really does that,” Martinez said before Friday night’s game.
“As we always say, it’s just that [competing] And consistency. Stay out of the strike zone. But he’s throwing the ball really well. ”
Irvin had another “bad pitch” last night in Oakland, holding the Athletics to 1 hit and 1 run in 6 innings, allowing a solo home run on a 2-1 cutter up in the zone, Lawrence Butler has hit 445 this season He hit his first foot to right-center field to give the home team a 1-0 lead at the Coliseum.
Irvin stuck to it, shutting out 11 of the last 13 Athletics batters he faced, and the right-hander had just two walks over his last three innings on the mound.
He struck out five of the 21 batters he faced and threw just 74 pitches in six innings, totaling seven swings and 14 called strikes.
So what about that “one bad pitch”?
“It was right in the middle, dude,” Irvin said. Quoted by Mark Zuckerman of MASN.
“He hit a bad ball. Those mistakes are what he’s trying to recover from.”
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The Athletics went into the 9th inning with a 1-0 advantage, but Jesse Winker, who had hit 3-for-3 with a double, hit a home run in the 9th inning to take the lead (4-for-4, 2B (3)). book), HR (1 book)). )).
The series opener went to overtime, but in the 10th inning, Kyle Finnegan hit a walk-off home run and a free runner to make it 2-1.
