Washington National Right-handed Jake Irvin succeeded in finding his way in the Heuvel in Los Angeles and will be looking for a repeat result when he is opposite the Dodgers on Saturday evening in the middle game of a three-game series.
On April 17, 2024, Irvin went six scoreless innings with six strikeouts in the home ball park of the Dodgers while he started the Nationals for a 2-0 win. It was his first of a career-high 10 victories last season.
Irvin (5-3, 4.23 ERA) is back this weekend, ready to make his 16th start of 2025 and will look at the form he showed when supplying eight scoreless innings in a victory against the San Francisco Giants on 24 May. Since that outing he is 1-2 with a 6.86 ERA in four starts.
Irvin is 1-2 with an ERA of 4.88 in five lifespan starts against the Dodgers.
A strong outing of Irvin could also encourage a thinning National team that has lost 12 of the last 13 games, including 6-5 losses The Dodgers in the series opener on Friday. The Nationals received home runs from Amed Rosario, Riley Adams and CJ Abrams, but only came for a short time.
A day after touching two home runs, including the game-ending shot in the 11th inning against the Colorado Rockies, James Wood from Washington 0-out-5 with two strikeouts hit on Friday. He hit three home runs in the three-game series between the teams in April when Washington won two of the three.
“Every time he gets there, I really have the feeling that he has the chance to hit a ball 100 miles per hour or plus,” said National Manager Dave Martinez. “What I like, however, is that he makes his walks, which is great. If he keeps doing that, then Sky is the limit for him. He has to accept his walks, and when he does that and gets the ball in the zone, he touches it hard.”
The Dodgers, who won six of their last seven games, send right-handed Dustin May (4-4, 4.46 ERA) to the Heuvel on Saturday. May won for the first time in three starts when he spent three points on six hits and four walks over six hits in six innings of a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
The only career performance in May against the Nationals was a start in April in Washington when he gave up three points (one earned) in six innings and was still accused of a loss in the 6-4 defeat.
May will count on the help of his powerful attack on Saturday. Andy Pages had a two-homer match against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday and now has 15 home runs, who surpasses his 13 from his Rookie season in 2024.
Pages had two hits and an RBI Friday, while Enrique Hernandez had two hits with two points and Miguel Rojas hit a two-run home run. Hernandez got a rare start on first base instead of Freddie Freeman, while Rojas Max Muncy played in third place for the night.
Freeman and Muncy are planned to return to the starting line -up on Saturday.
“I know it’s a long season and you’re going to get more opportunities to contribute,” said Rojas. “It is nice to finally get one game like this that you feel part of it, and not just defensive or something like that, but doing what you should do against left -handed pitching.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will return on Saturday after serving a suspension of one game for his actions during a bank-cleaning incident against the Padres on Thursday. San Diego -manager Mike Shildt was also suspended for one competition.
-Field level Media
#Deadspin #Jake #Irvin #instructed #Nats #Doldrums #Dodgers