Washington Nationals news & notes: Jake Irvin Ks 10 in ATL; Nats drop 2-0 decision to Braves…

Notes and quotes from Jake Irvin’s 10-K start in Truist Park…

IRVIN Ks 10 IN ATL:

Jake Irvin struck out a career high 10 batters last night in Atlanta’s Truist Park, tossing six scoreless frames on 90 pitches, 58 strikes, but Braves’ starter Max Fried held the visiting Nationals off the board through eight in the pitchers’ duel.

Washington’s offense was 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position on the night, and were shut out in a 2-0 loss, connecting for seven hits total, all off of Fried, but two outs on the basepaths and four double plays helped the opposing starter.

Irvin lowered his ERA to 3.34 on the year, to go with a 3.32 FIP, 1.57 BB/9, and 7.71 K/9, after he walked two and gave up just two hits total, with 13 swinging and 11 called strikes on the night in a dominant outing.

Did doing it in a loss dampen the enthusiasm for what he managed to do in the start?

“I’m doing my job trying to keep us in the game. And that’s my focus,” Irvin told reporters in his post game presser.

“At the end of the day, if I give us a chance to win, that’s my job, and we go from there.”

His manager, Davey Martinez, said Irvin’s start was, “Outstanding.”

“The kid was good. Really good. Ten strikeouts against that team, that’s pretty impressive.

“He threw the ball really well. After the sixth inning, 90 pitches, we had a conversation with him. That last pitch he let it all out. So, great job by him. Jake pitched really well.”

Jacob Barnes took over for Irvin in the seventh and gave up a leadoff home run on a 2-2 cutter up in the zone to Braves’ slugger Marcel Ozuna, who hit it 413 ft. to left field, 1-0.

Two singles around a strikeout and a sac fly scored the home team’s second run later in the inning, and that’s all Atlanta needed to even things up after dropping the series opener by a final score of 8-4 on Monday.

“I like Jacob Barnes there,” Martinez said of the at-bat with Ozuna. “He just didn’t locate that pitch to Ozuna. Other than that, he had [Ozuna] at two strikes and then the fastball us up.

“I liked the fastball up on [Matt] Olson [for the K], and the other guys.”

Martinez too blew off talk of it being a “wasted” effort from Irvin, considering he received no support.

“You’ve got to look at the other side,” he explained.

“They have Fried, right? He pitched really well. We got some traffic. He got out of jams with the double plays. We hit into four double plays. He pitched well, too.

“We just couldn’t get anything going.”

ABRAMS’ HRs:

CJ Abrams went 22 games between home runs Nos. 7-8, a rough stretch, during which the 23-year-old shortstop went 19 for 90 (.211/.226/.256) with four doubles, a walk, and 14 Ks in 93 plate appearances, taking him from a solid .297/.377/.634 line to .257/.309/.455 on the year.

Abrams hit HRs Nos. 8-9 in back-to-back games, in the series finale with Seattle in D.C. on Sunday afternoon and in the series opener in Atlanta, GA on Monday.

“Hopefully this will get him going a little bit,” manager Davey Martinez said after Sunday’s blast by Abrams. “It’s not like he’s swinging bad, he’s just not getting the pitches that he should to hit, and he’s got to learn how to take his walks. That’s the biggest thing for him right now. Be ready to hit, but if they’re going to not throw you fastballs, or not throw you anything close to hit, then he’s got to get on base. And once he gets on base, he creates havoc.

“But he’s learning, he’s playing well. … What I love about it is he’s not taking his at-bats to the field. He’s playing really good defense, he really is.”

Martinez talked about Abrams’ rough run the last few weeks as an opportunity to understand what’s important to success at the plate and in the field.

“Just be where your feet are and remember to swing at strikes,” Martinez said. “He’s really good when he swings at strikes. And that’s the big key. Try to hit the line drives, stay in the middle of the field when he has to, but he understands and we all know that he’s got juice and he can do what he did today.”

Abrams followed up with a 2 for 4 game and his 9th home run of the year in the first of four with the Braves. He hit an 0-2 fastball up and in from veteran Charlie Morton out to right for a solo shot on Monday.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

“I was just staying on the fastball the whole AB and I got one inside, put a good swing on it,” Abrams told reporters after the game. “Swinging at strikes the last couple of days and showing it.”

“He’s staying behind the baseball a little bit,” his manager added. “Really getting on top of balls up, getting the ball up. But he’s swinging the bat really well again. He got a base hit to left field again today, which was awesome, but we need him to get on base, but when he’s doing that and he’s swinging at strikes, he hits the ball really well.”