Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ series opener with the Pirates in PNC Park…
IRVIN IN SEPTEMBER:
August was the cruelest month for Jake Irvin so far (6.61 ERA, 6.25 FIP, .316/.368/.571 line against in six starts and 32 2⁄3 innings pitched) with the 27-year-old, 2018 Nationals’ 4th Round pick not able to reproduce the numbers he’d put up over the first four months of the 2024 campaign (3.44 ERA, 3.95 FIP, and a .228/.277/.399 line against in 22 GS and a total of 128 1⁄3 IP).
Irvin’s final start of August was a rough one, which saw the right-hander allow seven earned runs (a season-high) and eight hits in 4 2⁄3 IP, with six of the hits, and all seven runs, coming in a 36-pitch second he barely escaped.
Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
“It was just one inning, but that inning everything was up,” Davey Martinez told reporters after Irvin’s outing against the Chicago Cubs.
“He couldn’t get the ball down. His location wasn’t great. And then after that he settled down.”
Irvin managed to get into the fifth inning, and kept the ball down in the strike zone before and after the second. But why did he struggle in the long second?
“That’s [something] we’ll look at,” Martinez said. “But when he kept the ball down he was really good, as we saw. And that’s the key for him, is to keep everything down.
“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.”
“Truthfully,” Irvin explained, as quoted by MASN’s Bobby Blanco. “I just made really bad two-strike pitches. 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 is deserved.”
Thursday night in the nation’s capital, a tough second doomed Irvin and the Nationals again and cost the club the series opener with the Pirates in Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.
Our second inning recap pic.twitter.com/h4I0JfpoRj
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 5, 2024
Irvin gave up back-to-back, one-out walks in the home-half of the second inning this time, a run-scoring single, two-out RBI hit, another RBI single, and another, then a two-out walk and two-run single which put the Bucs up 5-3 in what ended up a 9-4 win.
He allowed back-to-back hits in the third, but stranded both runners, retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth, and was done for the night after throwing 87 pitches, 52 of them strikes, while giving up seven hits, three walks, and six earned runs overall. He did pick up 10 swinging strikes, and 16 called strikes, 12 split evenly between his four-seam fastball and curve.
“That’s something we’ve tried to limit all year long,” Irvin said of the big innings like the home half of the second.
“And I think I’ve just done a really bad job of establishing the fastball.
“That’s something that keeps guys honest on offspeed pitches. Guys are getting good pitches to hit, pitches in zone, especially in good counts for me.
“So I’ve got to be better about making better pitches deep in the count to those guys.”
“I think he starts relying a lot on his secondary pitches, and gets beat up that way, starts falling behind,” Martinez said.
“Then he comes back out and he retired the next nine batters on really just throwing his fastballs, commanding his fastball and keeping the ball down. I know he threw a couple good changeups there.
“He starts going to the breaking ball quite a bit, when he gets in trouble. I like his two-seamer. His two-seamer worked really well.
“We’ll talk to him tomorrow about just keeping things simple, especially when you give up three runs like that.
“Just attack, let your defense play, keep the ball down, attack the hitters, that’s when he’s really good.”
LINEUP CONSTRUCTION:
Before last night’s game, Dylan Crews was 5 for 6 with a double and two home runs, two walks, and six Ks over six games and 28 plate appearances as the Nationals’ leadoff hitter since Davey Martinez moved the 22-year-old, 2023 1st Round pick (No. 2 overall) to the top spot on August 28th.
“He’s working counts,” Martinez said in his pregame press conference before the second of two in Miami this week. “He’s seeing pitches. He’s swinging the bat well. So I like him up there. He’s got a lot of energy, that kid. I appreciate the way he plays the game so far. And, you know, he gets us going.”
Eight games into his big league career, Crews’s manager is happy with what he has seen from the outfielder in the field and at the plate.
Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
“So far, he’s doing all the right things. So I love his energy, I love the way he plays the game.
“He’s astute of what he’s trying to do and what he’s trying to accomplish.”
“He’s a student. He pays attention to detail,” Martinez added. “As you know, I like to listen to players before I put my two cents into things. But it’s great to communicate, especially with him because he understands what he’s trying to do.”
When he moved Crews up top, Martinez said he would consider eventually trying to get CJ Abrams, who’s led off for most of the season, back to the leadoff spot if he’s able to turn it around after struggling at the plate for an extended stretch.
“I talked to him before I sent the lineup out,” Martinez said before first making the move.
“He’s good with it. And like I said, when you start getting on base and taking your walks, I want you to get back up there. But we need to slow you down a little bit. He’s just swinging a lot.”
Nationals’ GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo told Audacy’s Sports Junkies on Wednesday he did not put too much thought into where everyone is hitting in the lineup at this point, when asked about Crews and Abrams and the top of the order.
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
Rizzo said he really, “… doesn’t put a lot of thought into where these guys are hitting at this point,” since the club is, “… just trying to figure out what their strengths and weakness are as a hitter.”
“I think lineup construction is going to be key for us going into next year,” he said, “… so I think we need to find out who can hit where and what makes this lineup the most dangerous that we can make it.”
As for who would ideally hit at the top of the lineup?
“I know both of those guys are going to hit at or near the top of the lineup when it’s all said and done,” Rizzo explained.
“And I think it’s gonna make the lineup more dynamic than it has so far this year.”