Irvin’s return to rotation:
Washington Nationals manager Davey Martinez spoke earlier this week about the work Jake Irvin was doing behind the scenes after the club decided to skip the final turn of the rotation for the 26-year-old rookie.
“We were focused on his mechanics, where his head was going,” Martinez explained.
“We’ve talked a lot about his head going straight in the direction he wants to throw the ball, so he’s working hard to finish himself by throwing strike 1. Change. The ball, he wants to hit more strikes with the curveball, so he was working on that too, and it looked good.”
Of course, Irvin will have Tommy John surgery in 2021, and Martinez said some of the mechanical issues could be the result of time the 2018 fourth-round pick missed during rehab and recovery. admitted to having sex.
“It takes time, it takes time,” he said.
“After a year and a half off, the mechanic can get a little sick…so we just want to polish and make sure he stays healthy. So we’ll be keeping an eye on him to make sure he’s using his body to throw consistent strikes.”
Ahead of Irvin’s return to the rotation on Saturday, Martinez spoke about how Irvin has helped him find time to focus on some of the things the club wants to work on between trips.
“In my opinion [we] I had the chance to work on some things with him and mechanically give him a bit of a breather and maybe for just 5 days don’t let him think much but let him watch, watch, video let me see He’ll be out on Saturday, tomorrow and a little reset will help him,” Martinez said.
“For me, it’s just about hitting the strike zone,” added the coach.
“I had a lot of conversations with him about what he needs to do to get better, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow, but he should be fresh and ready.”
“[Pitching Coach Jim] Hickey wanted to talk to him about getting more oriented and using his legs a little better,” Martinez said Saturday afternoon. [translates] You can see that in today’s game, but the most important thing, which I’m going to talk to him about first and foremost, is attacking the strike zone, throwing 1 strikes, and like I said earlier. Stay in the moment and focus on the next pitch, don’t get ahead of yourself.
Irvin struggled to throw strikes early in his rotation return, avoiding walks in the first 25 pitches without allowing a run, but was hit by a leadoff single (by Jesús Sanchez), double (By Joey Wendle, Sanchez came in third) and Sackfly (By Jonathan Davis) took a 1-0 lead over the visiting Marlins in their second of three games this weekend in DC.
A walk to Nick Fortes (On Irvin’s 45th career start), with the Marlins runners in the corners, and after pulling Hickey out onto the mound for a quick conversation, the Nationals starter scored a backward K (from Garrett Hampson) and a ground ball out to short (by Luis Araez). Total pitches after 2 innings?: 49.
Irvin countered Jorge Soler’s single with a 6-4-3 DP off Brian Delacruz, then scored a ground out on third with a fast 11-pitch third. He avoided a possible double play grounder error with one out in the fourth inning, and kept a clean sheet on 15 pitches.
With 13 pitches in the fifth, 1-2-3, for a total of 88 starting pitchers, Ervin was done for the day at that point, and Jordan Weems took the mound in the sixth, 1-1.
Jake Irvin quote: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 Ks, 88 P, 55 S, 6/2 GO/FO.
After the 5-2 loss to the Marlins, Martinez said, “After the first two innings, he threw the ball better, a lot better.” “His direction was good. We talked about trying to keep his front hip a little closed, but he had that downward plane and threw the ball better, so that was very encouraging. He finished with five [innings] 86 or 87 pitches, something like that, maybe a little more, but in the last three innings he calmed down and thought he threw better balls. ”
Did the off hours and how he started throwing strikes after an early struggle led to an improved game for Irvin?
“We talked about it after the game,” Martinez said. “And he said he needed a little breather. Let’s see what happens later.”
Key moments:
• When Luis Garcia hits a low 2-2 slider that puts him out in right field, Marlins outfielder Jesús Sanchez has a long way to go after him as he casts a shadow toward right-center. However, he allowed the Nationals second baseman to hustle. He hit his second triple of the season with one out and third base.
But Jaimer Candelario hit second base, lefty Braxton Garrett doubled, and Joey Meneses grounded Garcia to third base. 0 with 2 when using RISP.
• In the fourth home half, Candelario doubled from Garrett and was given another RBI chance, but this time Meneses came from behind and punched the sinker to the right on the outside to make it 2-2. tied the score. RBI single, 1-1.
Bullpen action:
Jordan Weems pitched a scoreless sixth inning to hold the tie at 1-1, but Chad Cool struggled in the top of the seventh, allowing a lead and single in his first two at-bats, then an intentional walk. The bases were loaded. With one out, the Marlins were forced to win with an unintentional free pass, making it 2-1. And the wild pitch eclipsed catcher Riley Adams, 3-1.
Thaddeus Ward forced the team out in the eighth inning to hold the game to just two runs.
Lane-Thomas doubled off Marlins reliever Tanner Scott in the eighth inning home half, stole third base on Luis Garcia’s single, and then scored on a double play ground ball off Jaymer Candelario’s bat to make it 3-2.
Ward returned to the mound in the top of the ninth inning, where he walked, singled, walked, and doubled for a four-hitter streak from one out to make the Marlins 5–2.
Back Page – Can’t Stop Araes?:
Luis Araez went 5-for-5 in Friday’s series opener in DC, and this season he went 9-for-17 (.529/.556/.824) with two doubles and a home run against the Nationals. 1, and hit a double with 4 out of 29 at bats and 15 at bats overall. He played against Washington during his five-year career. Of course, it’s not just against the Nationals.
Acquired by Pablo Lopez and Miami in this year’s winter trade, the Minnesota Twins came out Saturday batting .390/.441/.484 with 15 doubles, 1 triple and 2 homers in 65 games and 272 at-bats. Recorded 20 walks and 15 kicks, and recorded a total of .326/.384/.421 in 454 major games.
His batting average and on-base percentage led all major league hitters playing Saturday.
“He hits the ball well,” said Nats skipper Davey Martinez of the Marlins infielder after Araez’s five-hit game on Friday. “You talk about using the whole field, but he really uses the whole field.”
“He knows the strike zone very well,” Martinez added. “He’s a really good hitter, really. He doesn’t try to do too much, he just tries to throw the ball. And he has good hitting and ball skills.”
When asked how he would approach getting rid of him going forward, the sixth-year captain replied that it would clearly not be easy.
“There’s not much we can do,” Martinez admitted. “For me, it’s just hitting the strike zone and making him swing. Hopefully he can hit someone with it.”
Araez hit a grounder to first base for the first time Saturday afternoon in a game against Knots starter Jake Irvin, hit a single to shortstop in his second at-bat, and then lined out to left field in his third at-bat before hitting a single. hit the He hit 2-for-4 in the Marlins’ ninth inning and posted a .388 batting average for the year.