Major League Baseball
Jake Irvin Retires 17 Straight, Tosses 8 Shutout Innings, As Nationals Beat Mets 1-0
The legend of Washington Nationals young right hander, Jake Irvin, continued on Thursday as he tossed eight shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk, while striking out eight batters, to earn his seventh win on the season.
Over his last seven starts, Irvin is 5-1, with a 1.88 ERA and 40 strikeouts through 43 innings.
On Independence Day, Irvin showed the Mets just how dominate he has been, as he retired 17 straight batters after giving up a single to Jeff McNeil in the top of the third. It was by far the best start in his young major league career.
Irvin started the game retiring the first four batters, before giving up a one-out walk to DJ Stewart in the second inning. He then induced a lineout off the bat of Mark Vientos and struck out Ben Gamel to end the inning. In the third inning, Irvin struck out Tyrone Taylor and after the McNeil single, he struck out Francisco Lindor and then Brandon Nimmo lined out to center field. From that point on, Irvin retired the side through the eight inning, striking out Taylor to end his day.
Irving had at least a strikeout in seven of his eight innings of work, and he dominated the strike zone, throwing 70 strikes of his 99 pitches in the game.
When asked about Jake Irvin‘s pitching performance, Mets Manager Carlos Mendoza shared,
His Fastball was explosive. The way he used his breaking ball kept us off balance.
The Mets starter Jose Quintana was able to keep the Nationals off the board with seventh shutout innings, allowing four hits, three walks and one strikeout, but the Mets bullpen let down their team again. Adrian Houser relieved Quintana in the bottom of the eight, and gave up solo home run to Jesse Winker, putting the Nats up for good.
Irvin had a great month of June, finishing 4-1, with a 2.31 ERA through six starts, and his July 4th start has begun the new month with a bang, keeping the Nationals within striking distance of a NL Wild Card spot.
