Washington Nationals news & notes: Jake Irvin & one bad inning in 7-6 loss to Cubs…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ series opening loss to the Cubs last night in D.C.

ONE [REALLY] BAD INNING:

It’s a cliché, of course, the talk of one bad inning dooming a start. But for Jake Irvin Friday night in the nation’s capital, the second inning was a doozy.

In an otherwise effective turn in the rotation for the Nationals’ starter, Irvin, 27, gave up three straight singles, the third of which drove one in for the visiting Chicago Cubs, then he threw a wild pitch, surrendered a two-run double, a run scoring ground ball, an RBI double, then a two-out, two-run home run in a six-hit, one-wild-pitch, one hit-by-pitch, seven-run, 36-pitch frame.

Overall in the start, Irvin gave up eight hits, two walks, and just the seven runs he allowed in the second, giving his club 4 ²⁄₃ innings total in which he struck out six, on 103 pitches (66 strikes), generating 14 swinging and collecting 15 called strikes on the night, in what ended up a close 7-6 loss after Washington’s offense rallied for three in the bottom of the ninth but fell short of another comeback.

“It was just one inning, but that inning everything was up,” manager Davey Martinez said in assessing Irvin’s outing in the series opener with the Cubs. “He couldn’t get the ball down.

“His location wasn’t great. And then after that he settled down. He gave us more than what I thought he was going to give us after that second inning.”

“Truthfully, I just made really bad two-strike pitches,” Irvin explained, as quoted by MASN’s Bobby Blanco after the game. “I put myself in the driver’s seat … and not being able to put guys away, making not only bad pitches, but pitches that put guys in good positions to hit and slug. To come out with seven runs [allowed] is deserved.”

So why was the right-hander up in the zone (only, really?) in the second?

“That’s [something] we’ll look at. But when he kept the ball down he was really good, as we saw. And that’s the key for him,” Martinez told reporters.

“When he’s down, the curveball works, the changeup works, the two-seam works. Hopefully he learns that when he’s down he’s very effective.”

Martinez said it’s all Irvin has to do at this point to take another step in his development.

“That’s it. He’s got to know who he is and get back to his strengths.”

Irvin’s outing almost ended in the second, as his pitch count soared and the hits kept on coming.

“We were just looking at how many pitches he threw in the inning, and it was early. We would have ate our bullpen up if he didn’t give us what he did,” Martinez said.

“So, but we had [Joe La Sorsa] up, I think we were going to give [Irvin] one more hitter, and then we were going to bring Joe in.”

Irvin’s teammates tried to pick him up, scoring two runs early before the Cubs’ seven-run second, adding a run in the third, and then scoring three in the bottom of the ninth in an effort which ultimately was not enough.

“I love it. I really do,” Martinez said of the fight from his club in another late rally, as quoted on MASNSports.com:

“Like I’ve said before, we’re going to play hard for the last out of the game. And they did that tonight. … They never feel like they’re out of a game. And I love that about them.

“They’re gonna play hard. So I’m proud of them. We were down five runs early and we made it interesting late.”

CREWS CONTROL:

Dylan Crews went 1 for 5 with a home run (his 2nd in the majors) in the Nationals’ loss to the Cubs last night, and the 22-year-old, 2023 1st Round pick (No. 2 overall) is now 5 for 16, with a .313/.353/.813 line, two doubles, two home runs, three RBIs, one walk, a stolen base, and a total of three runs scored in his first four games in the majors.

Crews hit a first-pitch fastball up in the zone over the middle of the plate, 404 ft to the left of center field in Nationals Park, at 106.9 MPH off the bat (exit velo), taking Cubs’ left-hand starter Shota Imanaga deep.

“Just stay on top of the heater, really,” Crews said of his approach, as quoted on MASN.

“[Imanaga is] a good pitcher up there, so I’m riding the fastball. The first at-bat I kind of just fouled a couple of good pitches off.

“So going into that second one, I was just trying to be ready and trying to stay on top of it.”

His manager, Davey Martinez, discussed Crews’s aggressive approach to the first pitch four-seamer up in the zone and the result.

“He asked me, ‘Should I take a strike?” I said, ‘No,’” Martinez explained. “I said, ‘If you get it fastball, you go ahead and let it rip.’ And he did.”