Irvine in Atlanta:
Davey Martinez before Jake Irvin’s game Phillies During a Nationals road game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia last week, the 27-year-old Washington native and 2018 fourth-round draft pick spoke about his development in his second stint as a part of the Nationals’ major league rotation.
“He’s been studying the game all year,” Martinez said. “He does his job, he practices hard and he knows what to do every time he goes out there. He’s an incredible competitor.”
“One of the things he’s learned a lot about this year is how to stay in the moment, which is great.”
Looking ahead, he said he expects Irvin to continue doing what he’s been doing this season, which has seen him hit .238/.286/.417 with a 3.72 ERA and 4.13 FIP in 145 innings across 25-plus starts.
Irvin gave up just eight hits (three home runs) and four runs in six innings for CBP, leaving his teammates strong enough to pull off the comeback win.
“You just keep us in the mix long enough for good things to happen,” he said after his start, which resulted in him posting a 3.81 ERA, 4.31 FIP and a .241/.288/.428 slugging line in 26 starts and 151 innings.
“I think for the most part it went well.”
Photo: Adam Hagee/Getty Images
On Saturday afternoon at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, Irvin made his 27th start of the season, this time with a 5-pointer. 1⁄3He pitched one inning, giving up five hits (one home run), three walks, and two runs.
Irvin got on base in the first inning after a leadoff single and a walk, then got into a double play off Marcell Ozuna, who walked with two outs. He got a leadoff single in the second inning. Ozuna walked with one out in the third inning and got into his second double play of the game. He got six straight outs, but Orlando Arcia hit a slider inside to left field with a full count for a solo home run, the first of Irvin’s two runs.
He finished his pitching in the sixth inning with consecutive hits.He was out at second base on a throw from right field by Joey Gallo.), and Irving’s only remaining runner scored on a Matt Olson double off Nationals left-hander Robert Garcia to tie the game at 2-2, before Travis d’Arnaud’s single brought in the winning run to make it 3-2 and give the home team a 4-2 victory.
“I hate losing,” Irvin said. Quote from MASN’s Mark ZuckermanAfter two straight losses to the Braves, he had pitched a total of 16 scoreless innings over three starts, but gave up one run in the fifth inning.
“I hate losing,” he continued.
“But we’re a young team. We’re learning. And we’re giving ourselves a chance to win. That’s something to be really hopeful about and really be grateful for.”
“Because we’re competing. We’re giving ourselves an opportunity to be in these games.”
If you’re 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and eight runners on base in a close game against a NL East rival, you have little chance of winning.
Did he have any regrets about choosing Garcia over Irvin?When Martinez went into the bullpen, he threw just 83 pitches in the sixth inning.)?
“[Irvin] The ball started to pick up a little bit. His velocity dropped off a little bit in that innings. We had the right matchup. [Garcia]slightly out of position. But his pitching was pretty good.
“We held them to three runs but we just couldn’t get a hit. We were scoreless in nine at-bats, even though we had runners in scoring position. We had to start scoring.”
“We’re scoring two goals a game and we need to keep scoring.”
Diagnosing the reasons for the offense’s lackluster performance, Martinez said, “The ball is moving, but we’re not hitting it. We’re not staying in the middle of the field. I know the at-bats are tough, but we’ve got to make more of an effort to hit the ball hard in the middle of the field.”
