Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats walk eight in 10-5 loss to D-backs; Talking Joey Meneses & elevation + more…

A brief outing of Jake Irvin:

Bottom of the third against Jake Irvin los angeles dodgers Last week’s game at Dodger Stadium was tough, with the 26-year-old rookie giving up back-to-back singles before giving up a ground-rule double, a sack fly and an RBI single in a 4-1 loss to Washington. In the end, the Nationals lost 9-3.

His manager liked the fact that Irvin kept two clean sheets in five innings pitched on 94 pitches.

“The ball just went up a little bit,” said Davey Martinez.

“But for the most part, it was encouraging to see him get through it and come back the next inning, and the next two, and pitch really good. For me that was a learning moment. So I hope he can use that to his next start.”

As quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, Irvin told reporters after the loss, “I still felt like I was competing.” “We pitched. We tried to keep us in the game as long as possible.”

Before the game, Martinez talked about what Irvin needs to do to be strong in the starting rotation.

“He has to attack the strike zone and he has to go forward,” said the captain.

“When he’s out front, he’s really good. He puts together three really good pitches, but you have to look forward and work, you can’t fall behind.”

“He must be near the strike zone and throw a strike 1.”

In the top of the first inning, Irvin threw a first-pitch strike to five of the six batters he faced, but allowed a one-death hit (by Keter Malte), walked two outs (to Christian Walker), going up 1-2 and missing three in a row before losing a six-ball game, with an RBI by Emmanuel Rivera to give the away D-backs a 1-0 lead.

After throwing 21 pitches in the first inning, Irvin had consecutive walks and one-out walks in the second of 20 pitches, and withdrew the team in order in the third D-backs, but suffered two runs in that inning. In the fourth, after Stone Garrett hit a grand slam at the Nationals, he led the inning with consecutive hits and one run, and scored a run from two outs to make it 4 to 3, one point difference. First of all, we gave the home team a 3-point lead early on.

Irvin took the mound with 74 pitches in the fifth inning, ending the starter’s run with a total of 83 pitches in a nine-pitch offense that ended with HBP in the wrist of Corbyn Carroll…

Jake Irvin quotes: 4.0IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 1K, 83P, 59S, 5/2GO/FO.

Martinez was asked if he would bring Irvin back in the fifth, as he plans to let him out if he doesn’t get the first out.

“That hitter actually had six or seven pitches, if he could get over it, he had 83 pitches when we took him down, but we’re now at him. We wanted to keep him around there, so we had to pull him out,” Martinez said.

Bullpen action:

Erasmo Ramirez hit the first batter he faced and hit a double, then got off and started throwing to first base before Dom Smith realized he wasn’t in the bag and balked them both in an odd play. . With two runners in scoring position and no outs on first base, Ramirez trailed the next batter 3-0 and walked the bases to force the bases loaded, resulting in a sack fly to tie the score at 4-4, Jake Irvin. 1 point was added to the batting line.

The D-backs led 5-4 with a one-out RBI, and a sack-fly to the right center gave the visiting team a 2-point lead, 6-4 after four and a half innings.

Chad Cool took over with 2 outs in the 5th inning and took the last out of the inning, but the bases were loaded with 1 out with E: 6 and 2 walks, and he scored 2 points with a single RBI to make it 8-5 AZ. .

After Arizona’s fifth inning, Jose Luis returned to the mound in the sixth to set the team in line.

Cool gave up two runs on a Pavin Smith homer in the top of the seventh, 10-5.

“Walks,” said Davey Martinez, summing up what went wrong in the series opener when his team’s pitchers walked eight in total.

“We’re walking too many people. Hitting hitters. Falling behind. Pitching is 2-0, 1-0, 3-1. You won’t win many games like that. We’ve got to clean up, we’ve got to play defense again, we’ve got to play defense, we’ve been doing it very well, so we’ve got to catch the ball. We have to, we have to limit the walks, we swing the bat and hit a big home run. [Stone] Garrett, and like I said, we got a chance to score so much early on and knock out the starters, then we had to have a better at-bat, but we got walks, walks, walks. will continue. It kills us every time and we have to start attacking the strike zone again. “

Key moments:

• Lane Thomas’ leadoff single, Joey Meneses’ unsurprisingly one-out walk, and Jaymer Candelario’s bases loaded for Stone Garrett to put southpaw Tommy in the series opener against the Nationals’ D-backs. Henry went up to the mound. A slugger from Park and the Knotts needed to go down and lift for a 1-2 change low in the zone, but he caught it, hitting his second home run of 2023 and becoming the first base clearer of his career. 389 feet to the left. Accomplished a grand slam, leading 4-1 in the bottom of the first inning.

• With the score 6-4 in favor of the D-backs at the end of 4.5 hours, Lane Thomas pinch-hit, hitting a bouncing 90 mph 1-1 from Henry with a 428-foot home run to left center. hit the After a rough first game, the score was 6-5. 2023 is Thomas’ number 9.

Back Page – Joey Meneses and Elevation:

Mark Zuckerman of MASN, Responding to Washington Post reporter Jesse Dougherty’s tweet about Joey Meneses’ breakout run late last year (before last night’s game) and playing in the same early season he played in 56 games in a blockbuster trade. The Nationals have signed 23-year-old Juan Soto (and Josh Bell) to the Central League on a fixed-term deal. San Diego Padresnoted that Meneses also gave nearly the same figures.

The Nationals highlighted how Meneses played in the pregame notes for the first of three games against the D-backs in DC. “[had] He made it to base in 13 straight games, a career high.” before last night “During this streak, he batted .365 (19 in 52) and hit a .441 on-base percentage (7 BB, 7 short shots).” and what did he do “…he has reached safety in 23 of his last 24 games. [with a] .361/.421/.495 [line]8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 20 RBIs[s]recorded 10 walks and 14 points. [that] streak. “

But as MASN’s Zuckerman pointed out, homers didn’t get much out of 56 games last season, hitting just two in 248 at-bats, compared to 13 in 240 PAs in 2013. it was a book

His manager, Davey Martinez, said last weekend that Meneses continues to adapt to his role as DH and is now hitting again after a relatively slow start..247/.281/.353 through first 20 games in April), trying to get the ball into the air more often.

“It’s a new role and it’s been hard for him,” Martinez explained of Meneses, who has been DH most days this season after playing outfield and first base last year.

“We have discussed it with him many times. [how] He’s got to have some sort of routine and he’s really getting better at it. I know it’s still difficult for him, but he’s gotten a lot better at it. But he can hit. That’s one thing I know for sure is he’s standing there and we’ve got players on base, he’s like we’re trying to climb up there to drive the score. I’m a man. he was really good I know he’s working on some things, he’s a little frustrated because he can’t get the ball in the air the way he wants it to, but we’re going to do some things with him to make that happen. But — he puts the bat on the ball, and he’s been great. It’s starting to get warmer now, it’s going to get hotter and some days we’ll put him out on the field to give the other guys a break. “

As Martinez pointed out before last night’s game, Meneses has hit the ball hard again this year (47.3% HardHit%, League Average 36.0; Average Escape Velocity 90.0 MPH — League Average 88), but his launch angle is down (8.8 average, down from 9.5 in 2022), and his flyball percentage is also (13.4% FB% (up from 23.8% in 2020)), and the ball does not leave the yard like it did last year.

“Obviously he hits the ball very well, doesn’t he?” Martinez asked rhetorically. “We talk a lot about him just getting the ball in the air, but it’s interesting to see what he did last year and what he did. [he’s doing this year].he can no longer hit the ball [hard] He’s just not getting the ball in the air as much as he did last year, which is something the team is working on, but he’s hitting the ball really hard. At this point, I think he feels like he knows he can hit here, and he’s who he really is. We’re going to have him start trying to get the ball high again. “

“And that’s what he works hard for. [Hitting coaches Pat Roessler and Darnell Coles], but he was great. he was great

“And like I said, he’s learning how to do DH and getting into the routine.

What is the biggest advantage of Meneses getting comfortable as DH? Not the biggest, but interesting…

“He stopped coming to my office and complained less,” Martinez said. Drive-in run, and he did it for us. “

And when he hits the ball but doesn’t come up, is there any concern that he might adjust a little and throw something away with his swing?

Photo Credit: Jess Lapfogel/Getty Images

“So what we’re trying to do is keep things simple for him,” Martinez said. I want him to be a little more aggressive with the ball, and he can do that, so it’s kind of a simplification, not trying to overstate it, just trying to make him understand. It’s like, “Hey, they’re throwing a fastball right in the middle of the first pitch, so be prepared.” Those are the balls you might be able to get high on. Because he’s got a really good eye out there, and because he’s hitting the ball hard, without changing what he’s doing now, maybe just a little bit of subtlety that we might be able to do. Thing. We gave him a little bit of where his contact points were last year when he was in very good shape as opposed to this year. It’s just a small difference in where he hits the ball, which can help him. Little by little.

“So we want him to work on these things in batting practice, but when the game comes, we say to him, ‘Don’t think about it, just go and hit.'”

“The most important thing is to forget what you’re working on during batting practice. Everything accelerates once the game starts, so you just focus on hitting the ball hard.”