Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats drop 3rd straight, 4-2 Phillies in opener in CBP; Joey Gallo returns

Notes and quotes from the series opener in Citizens Bank Park…

IRVIN IN CBP:

Jake Irvin retired the final seven batters he faced, finishing strong in the series opener in Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, but Washington’s starter was erratic early in the first of three with the Phillies this weekend, a 4-2 loss for the Nationals in the end.

Irvin gave up a run in the first on a one-out single and two-out RBI double, 1-0 Philly, and after his teammates rallied to tie it up, on an RBI double by Keibert Ruiz, he surrendered another run in the home-half of the second, 1-1, with a leadoff walk, single, groundout, and wild pitch bringing in the second run, 2-1, before an RBI groundout made it a 3-1 game.

A two-out single, HBP, and RBI double put the Phils up 4-1 in the third, then the right-hander made some adjustments, and he started his streak of retired batters in the last at-bat of the inning.

Irvin gave up five hits, total, the four runs, and a walk, striking out two and inducing seven ground ball outs and five flyouts, with 10 swinging strikes (seven on his curveball), and 15 called strikes, eight on his curve and five on his sinker.

“We started throwing more breaking balls at the end,” Nationals’ catcher Keibert Ruiz told reporters after a 1 for 3 night at the plate, in which he hit the RBI double noted above, and helped guide Irvin out of trouble. “He was getting ahead with those pitches, and finishing too, so I think that was the key late in the game.”

His manager, Davey Martinez, appreciated the way Irvin kept things close, struggling, but doing what he could to keep the club in the game.

“Things could have got away from him,” Martinez said. “He made some adjustments, I know [Pitching Coach Jim] Hickey talked to him in-between innings. His head was getting a little bit out there, early, and so he started yanking pitches, and he was able to settle down after that, and like I said, keep us in the game.

“He’s getting better and better every time he goes out there. He understands what he needs to and he competes. And that’s what we ask all our guys to do.”

“I made a lot of really uncompetitive pitches early and got myself into predictable counts,” Irvin said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman after the series opener. “And that’s a good team over there, man. They’re going to hit mistakes, and I made quite a few mistakes early.”

“I kind of realized the attack plan from the other side and made the adjustment,” he said.

“But it was a little too late.”

With the score 4-2 after five, with Eddie Rosario doubling to drive in a run in the top of the fifth, Jacob Barnes took over where Irvin left off in the sixth, retiring six more, for a total of 13 straight outs, and Jordan Weems made it 16 in a row with a 1-2-3 eighth.

“Our pitching as a whole has done really well,” Martinez said after the team’s third loss in a row. “We score some runs for these guys, they’re going to start winning some games.”

“We’ve got to start hitting,” the manager added at another point in his post game presser.

“The key right now is offensively we need to start creating some longer innings, we got to start hitting the balls hard and putting the balls in play, it’s just we’re not scoring enough runs, we’re not getting enough hits.”

GALLO IN CBP?:

Joey Gallo went on the IL with an AC sprain in his left shoulder in late April.

After Wednesday’s game in Chicago, Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez said his veteran slugger was close to coming back to the majors.

In 10 games on his rehab assignment, Gallo, 30, was 5 for 33 (.152/.364/.546), with a double and four home runs, after he went 9 for 74 (.122/.286/.311) with five doubles and three home runs in 23 games before the injury and IL stint.

“I’m going to sit and talk to [GM Mike Rizzo], probably on the plane,” Martinez said before the club’s flight from Chicago to Philadelphia.

“[Gallo is] doing well, he feels good, so he’s doing well, so yeah, there’s possibly a chance that he’s back with us.”

Before the first of three with the Phillies this weekend, the Nationals made it official, ending Gallo’s rehab stint and returning him to the lineup for the series opener in Citizens Bank.

Martinez talked before the game about what Gallo brings to the lineup.

“His big homers, right?” the manager said. “And he plays good defense. He’ll take his walks. One, I’m really happy he’s healthy and feels great. That’s great news. And like I said, he’ll supply some power for us in the middle of the lineup, drive in some runs. I told him, hey, the biggest thing that he does when he’s good is that he draws his walks, he takes his walks, he doesn’t chase, and we need that right now.”

Martinez penciled Gallo in as his cleanup hitter against the Phillies.

“It’s nice to have him back, it’s a threat in the middle of our lineup.”

What did he see, or when did he know Gallo was good to go in the majors again?

“He was taking his walks, and he was hitting some balls hard,” Martinez explained.

“He drove some balls, hit a few home runs. The biggest thing for me is his shoulder was bothering him, he was trying to play through it, we got him on the IL and now he feels good.”

Gallo talked to reporters before Friday’s game, and said the shoulder was a lingering issue for a while before the IL stint.

“I think the shoulder thing was — it just got to a point where I couldn’t keep playing on it, it was just too weak and just needed rest and needed to get it back to full strength,” he said.

While he said he didn’t think it was going to be much of a concern anymore, it did get to the point where he and the club felt he needed to rest and rehab the injury before returning.

“It had been bothering me a little bit pretty much on and off the whole season. In LA, I dove into second, ran into the shortstop, and that’s when it really started to flare up,” Gallo said.

“It kind of got to a point where I couldn’t lift it up at all, and that was when I was really concerned. And obviously just kind of worked on it and tried to keep playing, but it just wasn’t where it needed to be, and we thought I probably needed to miss some time and get it back to full strength.

“But yeah, I mean, I’m ready to go now. I think it should be 100 percent again. I feel good.”

Gallo struck out in three at-bats against Phillies’ starter Zack Wheeler in his return to the big leagues, then doubled off reliever Jeff Hoffman in the ninth, bringing the potential tying run to the plate, though the Nationals didn’t come through with a big hit at the end.

“It was good to see Joey Gallo smoke a double there at the end,” Martinez said.

“The last one he just hit the ball a little bit more out front,” he said of the different between the at-bats which ended in strikeouts and the final AB.

“We talked to him about just trying to drive the ball to right-center field, and he was able to get a ball up where he could handle it. He was a little behind early in the game, but like I said, it was [Zack] Wheeler for his first game back up here, but he smoked that double, which was awesome.”