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CHICAGO – The only thing more frustrating than Jake Irvin’s recent collapse has been the lack of any concrete answers for what ails the Nationals right-hander.
Irvin has insisted all along he’s healthy, with his on-and-off velocity drops likely a product of mechanics instead of anything physical. His answers after each laborious start include some variation of the sentiment that he’s going to keep working hard and keep taking the mound every five days in search of better results.
The problem: The results aren’t getting any better. They’re getting worse. And today’s performance during the Nats’ 11-5 loss to the Cubs might have represented a new low point.
Tagged for seven runs in 3 1/3 innings, Irvin once again was done in by his two biggest bugaboos: walks and home runs. He issued four free passes during the start, two of them directly leading to runs. (He also hit a batter who later scored.) And he served up two more homers, raising his league-leading total to 33.
"That's been the story of the season, (not) limiting that damage, (not) keeping the ball in the yard," he said. "I've got to find a way to do it. The boys are working way too hard coming off a series sweep. To have a start like that? It's disappointing, man. The guys in this room are just awesome, and to let them down like that stinks. There's no excuse."
The stats are getting uglier and uglier for Irvin. His season ERA now stands at 5.71, which trails only teammate Mitchell Parker (5.87) for highest among all qualified major league starters. The same is true of Irvin’s 1.440 WHIP, with only Parker worse at 1.476. His first inning ERA is a gargantuan 11.17.
Now consider his stats over the last five weeks. Since Aug. 1, Irvin is 0-6 with a 9.87 ERA in seven starts, having surrendered 10 homers while issuing 16 walks in only 31 innings pitched.
Does he believe he knows the answer at this point, or is he still searching for something?
"I think you probably could've asked me that for the last couple months," he said. "At times, it feels like we're searching. But at the end of the day, the reality is keeping the ball in the yard and putting guys away with two strikes. We've got to be more competitive in those situations. Whether it's a mindset thing (or) a mechanical thing, in those situations I think it just needs to be a heck of a lot more aggressive."
In digging a 5-0 hole in the first inning today, Irvin left his teammates facing a massive uphill climb if they had any inkling of extending the three-game winning streak they established while sweeping the Marlins at home this week. To their credit, they did show some fight once they all got a look at Cubs starter Javier Assad.
Assad retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced, the lone baserunner coming via Andrés Chaparro’s second-inning walk. Then they caught a much-needed break when Chicago center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong lost Daylen Lile’s deep fly ball to the warning track in the sun, the ball bouncing off the ivy and caroming away for a two-out triple in the fourth.
Moments later, Luis García Jr. launched a two-run homer to right-center, giving the Nationals their first legitimate hit and putting them on the board in the run column as well.
"It's not easy," García said of the challenge of overcoming an early deficit, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. "But I've always said this team has a lot of energy, always stays really positive and fights."
Lile was far from done. After Assad was pulled with two on and one out in the sixth, the rookie right fielder greeted veteran lefty reliever Caleb Thielbar with a shot to the gap in left-center that also caromed away from Crow-Armstrong and turned into a two-run triple, his seventh of the season and second of the game. Thus did Lile become the sixth player in club with a two-triple game, the only rookie since the long-forgotten Bernie Castro on Sept. 16, 2006.
"Really didn't think I'd be able to do that up here in the big leagues," the 22-year-old said. "But it was definitely awesome, something to cross off my bucket list. I just wish we could've got the win."
The rally fizzled after Lile's exploits, the Nationals unable to complete what would have been a major comeback as their bullpen gave up its first earned runs in 22 innings.
But that big deficit created by Irvin still loomed large throughout. And it was created despite opportunities for the right-hander to get out of the first inning with minimal damage, or perhaps even unscathed altogether.
That opening frame included two soft base hits with exit velocities that didn’t crack 75 mph, but it also included a walk, a hit-by-pitch and then the big blow: Dansby Swanson’s three-run homer on a 1-2, 92-mph fastball at the top of the strike zone with Irvin one strike away from ending the inning.
Irvin walked off the mound after the bottom of the first and loudly cursed, whether at his bad luck on the soft hits or at himself for the home run pitch.
"The one to Swanson, you tip your cap," he said. "That's where we were going with that pitch. ... It's just being a little better with execution. We know there's a lot of risk-reward with Dansby up at the top."
Irvin returned to the mound for the bottom of the second and immediately served up another homer to Reese McGuire, this one coming on an 88-mph sinker over the plate in a 1-2 count. That’s now 33 home runs surrendered by Irvin this year, most in the National League. With potentially four more starts on his docket, he has a very real shot at breaking Josiah Gray’s single-season club record of 38.
Whether he does or doesn’t, Irvin is in danger of becoming the fourth different Nationals pitcher to lead the NL in home runs allowed over the last five seasons, joining Patrick Corbin (37 in 2021), Gray (38 in 2022) and Trevor Williams (34 in 2023). And Irvin nearly led the league a year ago, trailing only Aaron Nola and Austin Gomber (30) by one homer.
"I know he's batting out there, and I know he's giving it everything he's got," Cairo said. "We've just got to find a way that he can be more effective in those innings that go away from him. That's our job as coaches."
