After strong first half, Irvin still has work to do

MILWAUKEE -- After three consecutive strong starts, Jake Irvin has encountered trouble in his past two.

Manager Dave Martinez said before Sunday afternoon’s game against the Brewers that he hoped for a strong performance from Irvin to wrap up the first half of the season and hopefully give the bullpen some much-needed rest.

“Just pound the strike zone and limit the damage,” Martinez said. “He’s got to control the strike zone and get ahead. I’ve often said that, with any luck, he could have been an All Star. He’s pitched well.”

Instead, Irvin (7-8) turned in one of his poorest outings of the season, giving up nine hits and seven runs (six earned) in four innings. He registered three strikeouts and three walks, surrendered two home runs and threw one wild pitch while logging 86 pitches (54 strikes).

The Nationals fell to the Brewers, 9-3, but managed to take two of three in the series. They head into the All-Star break with a 44-53 record.

“The most disappointing thing is not being able to save the bullpen as much, especially after a day like yesterday,” Irvin said. “Those guys were taxed quite a bit. I’ve got to be better location-wise. I made some very hittable pitches, and that’s a good offense.”

Garrett Mitchell and William Contreras tagged Irvin for home runs.

Martinez said he’ll take a look over the break to see if he can find any specific issues with Irvin’s performance over the past two starts.

“He wasn’t on, and he wasn’t very efficient today. He missed locations,” Martinez said. “He’s pulling everything and opening up too soon. We’ll get him back on track for the second half.”

Overall, Martinez has been pleased with Irvin’s performance over the first half despite the recent struggles.

“He had a really good first half. I’m really proud of him,” he said. “He went deep in games and gave us a lot of innings.”

In a 7-5 loss to the Mets on July 9 at Citi Field, Irvin went six innings, allowed six earned runs on nine hits (two homers), two walks and struck out two batters. But even after that rocky outing, the right-hander entered Sunday having gone 5-2 with a 2.45 ERA over his previous nine starts, tossing six or more innings in eight of them.

“You look at the big picture and see that it was a good first half,” Irvin said. “I’ll just let these last two starts be a reminder that there’s still work to be done. We’re going to get better and move forward.”

Catcher Keibert Ruiz credited Irvin for his first-half performance.

“He’s been pitching really good and mixing his pitches,” Ruiz said. “His curveball was good in the first half, and we have to keep that going.”

Irvin also earned the praise of Brewers manager Pat Murphy.

“This kid that pitched for them today, don’t underestimate him,” Murphy said. "This kid can pitch. He’s good. He didn’t have his best day, but he’s going to build on that.”

Martinez said he’ll keep an eye on the rest of the young staff as the season progresses.

“This is part of the learning process. We’ve got to continue to stay engaged,” he said. “We’ve got to go continue to build our innings up. We’re going to push it a little bit. Later on, we might go to a six-man rotation.”

Among the few highlights on Sunday for the Nationals was a run-scoring single in the fourth by Juan Yepez, which extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

The Nationals had no success against Brewers opener Rob Zastryzny, who was perfect over 1 1/3 innings. He threw just six pitches, all for strikes.

“That’s not the approach I wanted,” Martinez said. “We’ve got to get the ball up. Get the ball up out over the plate. It’s hard when your leadoff hitter swings at the first pitch.”

With the loss, the Nationals are 5-10 in their past 15 games on the road.

The club will return to action on Friday in the first of a three-game series against the Reds.