Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats beat Cards, 14-3; reportedly trade Jesse Winker to Mets…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ win over the Mets and the latest deal by GM Mike Rizzo…

IRVIN BACK ON TRACK?:

In 20 starts before the All-Star break, Jake Irvin posted a 3.49 ERA, a 3.83 FIP, 29 walks (2.25 BB/9), 99 Ks (7.68 K/9), and a .231/.283/.395 line against in 116 innings.

Irvin’s final two starts of the “first half” were rough, with the 27-year-old giving up 18 hits, five walks, and 13 runs (12 earned) in 10 IP in back-to-back losses.

He came out of the break with seven strong against Cincinnati, however, before taking on St. Louis on Saturday night.

Irvin credited the short break with getting him back on track in his first second-half start.

“I think the break served as a nice little refresher,” he explained, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

Photo by Scott Kane/Getty Images

“Just a reminder to stay grounded, to be where your feet are, and live in attack mode.”

“He had a really good first-half,” Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez said heading into the second of three with the Cardinals in Busch Stadium.

“Just a couple hiccups at the end there, but he came back out for the second half and threw the ball really well the other day. Hopefully he goes out there and does the same thing. He’s been really good. I know they talked to him a little bit about [getting] a little too quick in his mechanics. He slowed everything down in his last start, so we want him to continue to do that.”

The seventh-year skipper said Irvin responded well to a brief break last year as the club tried to guide him through his first big league run and control his innings.

“It’s helped him tremendously. It really did. He understands — not only physically, but mentally, a little bit, a short break helped him, so we’ll see in the next month or so — we’re talking maybe a six-man rotation again, or doing something different just to give them a little bit of a break as well, but we want these guys to understand what it feels like to be out there and pitch every five days, and also get them up there in their innings because we got to build them up so that when we do get to the playoffs we can still use them.”

Following up on his strong start against the Reds, Irvin gave the Nationals 5 ¹⁄₃ innings in the 14-3 win over the Cardinals, giving up two runs on four hits (one a home run), with one walk, and five Ks in a 96-pitch appearance in which he recorded 10 swinging strikes and 14 called strikes.

“Jake to me was the guy. He held a pretty good lineup [in check] and we were able to score a bunch of runs,” Martinez said after the win.

“I think getting ahead was huge,” Irvin said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, of his own start.

“I was trying to keep guys off balance in good counts. And the whole mix was there for the most part.”

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST:

Irvin received plenty of support on Saturday, with the Nationals scoring their 14 runs on 16 hits. Lane Thomas went 1 for 4 with three runs scored. Jesse Winker went 2 for 3 before he was, apparently, traded to the New York Mets in the middle of the game. Juan Yepez was 2 for 5 with a double. James Wood went 4 for 5 with two runs scored and two RBIs, doubling for the second time in the majors. Keibert Ruiz went 1 for 6 with a three-run home run, part of a seven-run sixth which blew the game open. Jacob Young walked twice and scored two runs. Harold Ramirez went 3 for 3 with two runs scored and 3 RBIs after replacing Winker.

“It started out as a weird game,” Martinez said of the offensive outburst.

“I think we left 12 runners on base,” he added, which was accurate, though they did go 9 for 20 with runners in scoring position.

“We came through in big moments as well. The boys just started working good at-bats.

“Started getting the ball in the zone, not chasing, and really driving the ball in the gap.”

WINKER TO METS:

ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first reporter we saw with news last night that the Nationals were trading Jesse Winker to the New York Mets for an as-yet (as of 1:30 AM) undisclosed return.

It’s the second big deal ahead of the July 30th trade deadline, after the Nationals dealt Hunter Harvey to Kansas City in return for 2022 2nd Round pick Cayden Wallace, 22, a second round pick in ‘22 who was the Royals’ No. 2 prospect according to MLB Pipeline before the deal.

GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN in D.C.’s Sports Junkies this past Wednesday morning the phone started ringing after the deal with the Royals.

“Since the Harvey deal teams been calling us about certain players,” Rizzo said.

“We’ve got a good bullpen that a lot of people like that can help a contender. We’ve got a couple of bats that teams like that could help a contender. If they feel like we’ve got some pieces for a championship run for them, so, they’ve been calling and we’ve been listening and that’s kinda our job.

“We’re not gonna make a trade to make a trade, we’re not going to make a bad trade in our minds, but we will be aggressive if the right thing comes up. We feel obligated to make the right moves to move us forward.”

Winker was playing out a 1-year deal after signing for $2M in February, and was one of the names mentioned often as a piece Rizzo and Co. in the Nationals’ front office could try to trade as they build the next competitive team in the nation’s capital.

Manager Davey Martinez was asked after last night’s game what he would miss about Winker.

“The energy that he brought every day, and just a fun guy,” Martinez said. “His preparation, his routine. He came ready to play every day, and it showed. He did really well for us. I wish him luck, until he plays us. But we’ll miss him. Like I said, he brings that energy every day.

“He’s a great to be around, great kid, I loved him, so we’ll see a lot more of him. I thought he had a lot more left in the tank. We know he had injuries. For the most part he stayed healthy for us, and played really well.”

Martinez and Winker both learned about the trade in the middle of the game.

“Honestly, I didn’t know about it when he came out of the game, and he came up and I guess it was on Twitter, he came up and started telling everybody goodbye. And it was tough.”