PITTSBURGH -- If they gave mulligans in baseball, then Jake Irvin would be in good shape. However, unfortunately for the Nationals’ right-hander, mulligans are a golf thing.
Irvin had a rough first inning for a third consecutive start, and that made the difference. The Pirates scored both the game’s runs in the first, then held on to beat the Nationals, 2-0, on Wednesday night at PNC Park. Washington (8-10) had won four of its previous five games.
The Pirates didn’t exactly knock Irvin around. After Irvin retired the first two batters, he walked Bryan Reynolds. Ryan O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna, and Nick Gonzales then hit soft singles to produce the runs, giving Irvin two earned runs allowed on three hits and one walk over the inning.
“I think outside of the first inning that Jake was really good,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “The first inning, he got the first two hitters out, which was awesome. And then the walk to Reynolds, and everything went from there. You can’t give free bases. I think he did a much better job after that.”
Irvin lasted five innings, allowing four hits, three walks and two runs, while striking out five. Brad Lord then pitched the final three scoreless innings in relief.
So, where does the mulligan come into play? For Irvin, it could be early in games, as he has allowed seven first-inning runs in his past three starts.
Irvin also lamented the walk to Reynolds, who drew a walk in each of his first three plate appearances in the game.
“The first thing I’d like to have back is the walk to Reynolds, because that set up the whole inning,” Irvin said. “Then the three weak-contact hits. It’s tough, but you’ve got to roll with the punches and keep going.”
Irvin did indeed keep going, retiring eight batters in a row at one point while blanking the Pirates over his final four innings. Similarly, his previous start saw him allow three runs in the first to the Brewers, then shut them out in his last four innings.
“It’s about going pitch to pitch,” Irvin said. “You’ve just got to keep pitching. The first inning is what it is, but at the end of the day, when the damage is done, you just chalk it up to, 'That’s baseball.'”
The Nationals entered the game leading the Majors in scoring, averaging 5.82 runs per game. However, they were shut out for the first time this season, as opener Mason Montgomery, along with relievers Carmen Mlodzinski, Gregory Soto and Dennis Santana, combined to allow only three hits.
Among the Pirates' pitchers, Mlodzinski was particularly impressive, allowing just two hits and no runs over six innings after entering to relieve Montgomery at the start of the second inning.
The Nationals had only one extra-base hit. First baseman Curtis Mead doubled off Montgomery in the first inning with one out.
“It’s a range of things,” Mead said when asked why the Pirates' pitchers were so effective. The biggest thing is that [Mlodzinski] didn’t put many pitches over the plate, didn’t give us many pitches to hit. They were all doing a good job of changing speeds and had good command of the speed changes. It wasn’t fun, and you hate to waste the kind of performance Jake had.”