MINNEAPOLIS – Jake Irvin had been looking forward to this day for more than a year, from the moment Major League Baseball released its 2025 schedule during the 2024 All-Star break. The Bloomington, Minn., native had just missed pitching at Target Field the last time the Nationals played here in April 2023, called up to make his big league debut in D.C. less than two weeks later.
And when the time finally came this afternoon, Irvin wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.
With seven innings of two-run ball, Minnesota’s own gave the large gathering of friends and family in attendance plenty of reason to cheer. And with a second straight offensive surge from a lineup that had been shut out in its two previous games, the Nationals cruised to a 7-2 victory over the Twins.
That’s now four of six for the Nats over the last week, winners of back-to-back series for the first time in nearly a month. They’re still 19 games under .500, poised to deal away several more veterans before Thursday’s trade deadline. But they are at least starting to play better baseball after a dismal start to their summer that cost their longtime general manager and manager their jobs.
Irvin spent the last three days gushing over his hometown. He spent his off-day taking teammates on a boat ride on one of the alleged 10,000 lakes in this state. He spent Friday and Saturday giving interviews to both D.C. and Minnesota media members, showcasing his love for this place and crediting its denizens for molding him into the big league pitcher he has become today.
By the time this morning arrived, the 28-year-old knew he needed to saddle up and focus on the real task at hand. And when he took the mound on a sweltering Sunday afternoon, he did everything in his power to conserve energy.
To wit: Irvin’s first inning lasted all of four pitches, even with one batter reaching base. He followed up Trevor Larnach’s leadoff single by inducing a double play grounder on his first pitch to Willi Castro, then got Carlos Correa to pop up on his first pitch.
Irvin wasn’t perfect. Matt Wallner mashed a 452-foot homer onto the plaza beyond the stands in right field in the bottom of the second, and Larnach drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third. But he continued to work fast, throw strikes and get quick outs.
Irvin’s pitch count after four innings: 46. After six innings: 70. He took the mound for the bottom of the seventh with a most unusual stat line: He had neither issued a walk nor recorded a strikeout, further evidence of his efficiency.
The walk never came, but Irvin did notch back-to-back strikeouts with a pair of beautiful curveballs to Wallner and Brooks Lee. And with his pitch count at 86 (65 of those strikes), he returned to the dugout to a line of high-fives from teammates and coaches, all while his Bloomington crew cheered from the third base stands.
As has been the case more often than not this season for Irvin – as opposed to rotation mate MacKenzie Gore, who often can’t buy a single run of support from his lineup – the Nationals scored early and often in this one. Emphasis on early.
The crowd hadn’t even settled in on this scorching Sunday (heat index 99) before the home team trailed 1-0, with CJ Abrams blasting Cole Sands’ first pitch of the game into the second deck in right field for a tone-setting homer.
Abrams would contribute in all kinds of ways over the course of the game, adding a single, a walk, a hit-by-pitch and three stolen bases to the first inning homer. Two of those steals came in succession in the top of the third, aggressive baserunning that put him in position to score on Luis García Jr.’s sacrifice fly.
The Nationals got another sacrifice fly, this time from Paul DeJong, in the top of the fourth to bring home Daylen Lile, who ignited the rally with a triple. Then they went to work on Twins bulk reliever Travis Adams with a sustained, four-run rally in the top of the fifth that didn’t include any big blasts but rather a string of quality at-bats.
Walks by Abrams and James Wood (who also struck out four more times to extend his first career slump) set the table for the heart of the lineup. García singled to load the bases, and Josh Bell followed with an RBI single. Alex Call, starting in center field for Jacob Young (who appears to be fine after getting struck by a pitch on his right index finger), then shot a ball back up the middle that skipped off the mound and scooted past a helpless Lee at second base, bringing home two runs. Lile then completed the rally with a sac fly, extending the Nationals’ lead to 7-2.