Jake Irvin ended his start in the second of three with the A’s in D.C. with a backwards K, with Oakland’s shortstop Nick Allen taking a high, 3-2 curve for a called strike three, with runners on second and third in a 2-1 game in the visitor’s favor.
Irvin, 26, and in the 17th start of his big league career, threw 99 pitches total to 27 hitters he faced, giving up solo home runs by JJ Bleday in the third (on a middle-middle, 1-2 heater the outfielder hit to center field for a 432-foot blast), and Brent Rooker in the sixth inning (on a 1-2 curve outside the Athletics’ DH hit 401 ft.