Start No. 5 for Nationals’ rookie Jake Irvin was a less-than-stellar, four-inning, 76-pitch outing in which the 26-year-old was in and out of trouble, giving up two hits, one a home run, four walks, and two runs total, both earned.
His defense helped him out of trouble, but Irvin’s high pitch count and all the high-leverage at-bats led his manager to lift him after just four innings.
“Our defense saved him,” Davey Martinez told reporters. “We turned a big double play for him, bases loaded, but four innings, 76 pitches, we got to get him in the strike zone.