Washington Nationals news & notes: Jake Irvin impressive effort; but not enough in Nats’ 2-1 loss to Mets…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals and Mets’ series opener in Citi Field…

IRVIN IN NY:

Coming off a six-inning outing against Atlanta in which he held the Braves to a run on two hits, walking one and striking out five, Jake Irvin impressed again last night in Citi Field, in what ended up a 7 ¹⁄₃ inning start.

Irvin, 27, gave up four hits and one earned run this time, walking one again, with another five strikeouts.

Irvin threw 94 pitches, 65 for strikes, to the 26 Mets’ batters he faced, retiring nine straight to start the night, and 11 of the first 12, while holding the home team off the board through seven before a leadoff double in the eighth and and RBI single two outs later, with reliever Derek Law on in relief, brought the only run on Irvin’s line around, tying things up at 1-1 for a couple innings before the Mets won it in extras, 2-1.

Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images

It was a fastball-heavy night for Irvin, who threw 41% sinkers and 38% four-seamers, mixing in his curveball (17%) and cutter (3%). He got just seven swinging strikes, but did collect 17 called strikes, eight on his sinker and five on his curve (with three on his sinker and one on his cutter).

“He threw the ball really well. I thought today was probably the best day I’ve seen him throw the ball,” manager Davey Martinez said after the game.

“His two-seamer was good. His four-seamer was good. Everything was good. He gave us everything we needed.”

Everything they needed included Irvin fielding a tough, bases-loaded grounder toward third base in the fourth, when he barehanded the weak roller off Mark Vientos’s bat, and threw to first base in time for the final out of the inning. Irvin, as his manager said, was “jacked” after that play…

“What an unbelievable play,” Martinez said. “For him to come up and have the awareness to make a good throw like that. It was awesome.

“We were all jacked up, and he was really jacked up, but he calmed himself down, got back out there and did a great job.”

The manager’s reaction to Irvin’s reaction?

“He was jacked up. I looked at him and he just turned around and looked at me, and goes, ‘I’m okay.’”

Unfortunately for Irvin and the Nationals, as Martinez said, the offense, “couldn’t get those couple runs he needed.”

“Today, to me, we played really good, we just couldn’t drive in any runs,” he explained, after the club went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and five left on base in the loss.

“We’ve got to get the ball in the strike zone. We can’t chase,” Martinez said in diagnosing his offense’s issues. “We get the ball in the zone, we’ll hit the ball hard.

“Today, we swung at some pitches out of the zone — with two strikes, and we hit the ball on the ground when we should try to hit the ball in the air. We got to get the ball up in those situations.”

ABRAMS SITS AGAIN:

CJ Abrams missed a fourth straight game with an impingement in his left shoulder, with the Nats’ skipper, Davey Martinez, explaining before the series opener with the Mets in Citi Field the club is taking a cautious approach with their 23-year-old shortstop, who had just begun to get things going at the plate before the injury, following a tough offensive stretch for the infielder.

Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images

“He’ll definitely be available to pinch hit today,” Martinez told reporters.

“We’re just going to be very cautious. But he’ll go do some activities out there, and he’ll be available to pinch-hit.”

While he would, of course, be happy to pencil Abrams back into the lineup, Martinez said it was more important to have him healthy first.

“For me, it’s about him getting through the rest of the year healthy. That’s the biggest thing for me.

“Then he can start, right now can start his winter program. But he wants to play. He’s itching to get back in there.

“He started swinging the bat well again. So he’s doing everything he can with trainers and our strength guys to get back on the field.”

Abrams hit two home runs (his 19th and 20th) in four games before the injury, but overall in the second-half, (following a first-half which earned him an All-Star nod), he’s struggled.

He finished the pre-ASG stretch at .268/.343/.489, with 21 doubles, six triples, 15 home runs, 30 walks, and 80 Ks in 89 games and 398 plate appearances, but before the shoulder issue, he had a .179/.234/.301 line, six doubles, five homers, nine walks, and 45 Ks over 45 games and 188 PAs coming out of the break.

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images

“I think it was just — hitting-wise, mechanically, I think he got a little fatigued there, towards — in August, late August, September,” Martinez said in explaining Abrams’ second-half woes at the plate.

“But still in all, we got to remember this guy hasn’t played very much baseball. When we got him he only had 500-600 at-bats in the minors, played a full year last year, came into his own for the first half this year, and the season gets long when you’re that young. So I hope he learned something this year, which I know he did, about preparation, and how to get himself ready to play out a full year like he did the first half.”