ATLANTA — Jake Irvin struck out Jarred Kelenic to end the fifth inning of a nearly flawless outing Tuesday night. It was the eighth of the Washington Nationals right-hander’s career-high 10 strikeouts, but for some reason, he left the mound angry.
At that point in what became a 2-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves, the game was scoreless. Irvin was going blow for blow with Atlanta ace Max Fried, but as he came off the mound, he put his face in his glove, yelled and stomped toward the dugout at Truist Park.
The reason: The inning could have been better. He walked Ozzie Albies to start it. Sure, Irvin had gotten Sean Murphy to ground into a double play. But then it took him seven pitches to strike out Kelenic despite getting ahead in the count 0-2.
“I wanted to put him away earlier,” Irvin said. “Just made a couple of uncompetitive pitches and was a little bit frustrated about it.”
Advertisem*nt
Irvin was striving for perfection in a stellar outing. He seemed to understand what proved true later in the game: He had little margin for error.
Irvin completed six innings, striking out Austin Riley swinging with a high fastball to close his night. Afterward, he turned to the video board and flexed. He had allowed two hits and two walks on 90 pitches, but the game was still scoreless.
“Outstanding,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “Kid was good — really good. Ten strikeouts against that team, that’s pretty impressive. ... After the sixth inning, 90 pitches, we had a conversation with him. That last pitch, he laid it all out.”
Right-hander Jacob Barnes entered for the seventh to face Marcell Ozuna, who smashed the fifth pitch he saw for his 16th home run. Kelenic added a sacrifice fly later in the inning, but Ozuna’s homer was enough to spoil Irvin’s night.
“All the guys I’ve faced today I’ve faced multiple times, and I’ve had a lot of success against them,” Barnes said. “Unfortunately in this game, when you face people enough, at some point they’re able to get a mistake of yours.”
There has been a theme to Irvin’s outings this season, one he cannot control: The Nationals have scored more than three runs just twice in his 11 outings. Washington (24-29) is 2-9 in those games.
Advertisem*nt
The Nationals had seven hits in Fried’s eight scoreless innings but squandered every opportunity. CJ Abrams opened the game with a double but was caught too far off the bag on a Lane Thomas liner and was doubled up; that was the first of four double plays Atlanta (31-21) turned Tuesday. Jesse Winker singled to open the fifth, then was picked off.
“You got to look at the other side,” Martinez said. “They have Fried. He pitched really well. We got some traffic. He got out of jams with the double plays.”
Fried outlasted Irvin and left to a standing ovation before Raisel Iglesias struck out two in a one-two-three ninth. But that’s not to say Fried outpitched Irvin.
Irvin’s outing underscored his progression this season. He has not been afraid to attack the strike zone and get ahead — he’s throwing the ball in the zone 55.7 percent of the time; the MLB average is 48.6 percent. As a result, Irvin has dropped his walks per nine innings from 4.0 a season ago to 1.6. That has allowed him to pitch deeper into games.
Advertisem*nt
On Tuesday, he primarily relied on his fastball (37 pitches) and his curveball (35), keeping the Braves off balance. Four of his strikeouts came on fastballs, five came on curveballs, and one came on a sinker.
Irvin has pitched at least six innings in seven of his starts; he did that nine times in 24 outings as a rookie last season. He has a 3.43 ERA, which would be significantly lower if not for a six-run outing in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers last month.
“That’s the goal every time out: Attack, make guys earn it and hopefully get deep in the game doing so,” Irvin said. “Definitely something that I take pride in.”
A primary focus of the Nationals’ rebuild is reconstructing their starting pitching. Last season, they were looking forward to having Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore and Cade Cavalli in the same rotation, but then Cavalli went down. Irvin wasn’t in the picture initially.
But in early May, he got the call. He did enough to stick around, even though there were rough patches. He was the Nationals’ best pitcher in the second half a season ago. And with each start this year, he continues to cement himself as a part of the team’s future.
Wood hits the injured list
James Wood, the Nationals’ top prospect, was placed on the seven-day injured list at Class AAA Rochester with a right hamstring strain. Wood, a 6-foot-7 outfielder, has a .355 batting average, a .465 on-base percentage and a .596 slugging percentage in 45 games. The 21-year-old has nine home runs in 166 at-bats.
After a strong spring training, it seemed Wood was knocking on the door for his first call-up with each monster homer — especially as some of the Nationals’ veterans struggled. But that will be on hold for now.
“He’s got a little hammy issue,” Martinez said. “They’re going to give him some time to get back and rehab it a little bit. So hopefully we’ll get him back soon.”
