Washington Nationals news & notes: Jake Irvin Ks 10; Nats rally late for 2-1 win over Rockies…

Notes and quotes from Sunday’s series finale in Coors Field…

Jake Irvin put together a solid stretch of four starts between losses Nos. 5-6 on the season, posting a 1.13 ERA, a 2.35 FIP and a .198/.250/.302 line against in 24 innings in that stretch, but he struggled his last time out before facing the Rockies in the series finale in Coors Field on Sunday afternoon.

Irvin gave up eight hits, a season-high four walks, and four runs in five innings, over which he threw 97 pitches.

“Can’t really pinpoint it,” Irvin said of the source of his command issues.

“Just didn’t have great command of my fastball tonight, and it’s not a recipe for success, and put myself in some really bad counts.”

“It’s probably something mechanical, I’ll go back and look at that tomorrow, but overall just have to be more competitive than that.”

“He was a little off,” Nats’ manager Davey Martinez said after the outing, “… and I could tell he might have been a little frustrated at times, but they were trying to get the ball in the zone and they did a good job of that.”

The issue, Martinez suggested, was in fact a mechanical one.

“He was flying open just a little bit,” the skipper said.

“We talked to him a little bit about just direction, so I thought the fifth inning he threw the ball a lot better, but he was down and he was behind a lot of hitters today.”

Going up against Colorado yesterday, there were no signs of any mechanical issues.

He struck out 10 of the 22 Rockies’ hitters he faced, giving up three hits, a walk, and one run on a solo home run in the second, after which he retired 14 of 15 batters, with nine Ks in that stretch.

Irvin finished the game, which, to reiterate, was in Coors Field, with 22 swinging strikes, 11 on his curveball, which he threw 45% of the time, up from a season average of 33%, with a total of nine whiffs on his fastball (31%, down from 36.6% on the year), and got nine called strikes as well, six with his curveball.

“[Irvin] was unbelievable,” Martinez said after a 2-1 win over the Rockies which gave his club 2 of 3 in the series.

“To come here and strike out 10 guys, that’s pretty impressive, he pitched really well.”

“He’s starting to land his breaking pitches over really well,” the manager added.

“His changeup was good. His curveball was really good. And he’s pitching. He really was.

“He utilized his pitches. I thought Keibert [Ruiz] did a great job calling the game, and to come here, just giving up one run, it’s awesome.”

Unfortunately for the Nationals, Rockies’ starter Kyle Freeland, in his first outing since mid-April (strained left elbow), was dominant as well, holding the visitors off the board through six innings, (with 5 ¹⁄₃ hitless to start) before handing it off to reliever Nick Mears, who kept the shutout going with a couple scoreless innings of his own.

Lefty Jalen Beeks got the ball in the ninth, with a save opportunity and series win on the line for the Rockies, who’d held the Nats to a hit and one walk to that point, but Martinez’s club’s MLB-leading 22nd comeback win of the 2024 season started with a one-out RBI single off of Lane Thomas’s bat, which scored CJ Abrams from first, after he’d grounded into a force that took Jacob Young (leadoff infield single). Abrams scored from second on Thomas’s hit, after advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch, 1-1, then Thomas stole third, and with two out, scored on an RBI single to center by Joey Meneses, 2-1.

“We stayed inside the baseball, we started to drive the ball up the middle,” Martinez said of the offense coming to life in the ninth. “Jacob Young battles. We got a little lucky right there, but he tried to hit the ball up the middle, and then Lane hits the ball to right field, Meneses again drives the ball up the middle. That should be our approach, I tell these guys, don’t try to do too much, stay in the middle of the field. Good things happen when you stay in the middle of the field.”

“I always talk about hitting is not easy, some days you’re going to struggle, it’s day game, we’re playing in Colorado,” he added, “.. and all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom. Your back is against the wall, and here we go. The one thing I can tell you about these guys, is again, they got character, and they don’t quit, and they play hard for 27 outs, and I’m proud of them.”

Irvin said after the win he was just doing what he could to keep things close and give the offense an opportunity to snap out of their funk.

“If I give us a chance to win, I know we’re always in it,” Irvin said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. “Credit to their guy, Freeland. He’s a good pitcher. Coming off the IL to do that is pretty special. But our approach never changed, and you could see it with the guys in the dugout. They were fighting. They believe in one another, and I’ve got a lot of faith in them.”

Irvin also talked about the advice he received from the veteran of the rotation, who’s made 14 career starts in Coors Field.

“Obviously, the elements are a little different than in other parks we play in,” Irvin said.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to (Patrick Corbin), because … he pitched in Arizona for a while, and he played here a lot. He said you can’t be intimidated by the ballpark and the conditions. Just pitch your game. That advice really helped.”

Irvin’s 10-K outing was just the, “39th double-digit strikeout game by a visitor in Coors Field history and the first by a National.”

“It’s just staying within himself, and like I said, throwing strikes,” Martinez said. “When he starts throwing strikes and gets ahead, he’s tough to hit, and his breaking ball today was really good.”