WASHINGTON -- On most days, competing on an overcast 53-degree afternoon would be an edge for Bloomington, Minn., native Jake Irvin. But the right-hander was under the weather, which presented its own challenge in Irvin's second start of the season.

“If I was feeling a hundred percent, it’s something that I like to usually kind of hang my hat on,” Irvin said. “This is advantage weather for me -- something that I’m used to, and [battters] don’t like to hit in the cold.”

Irvin delivered six innings despite battling through illness in his Nationals Park debut on Saturday against the Phillies. He allowed four runs off five hits, including a home run, while issuing only one intentional walk and recording five strikeouts in the Nats’ 5-2 loss.

“[He was] good, really good,” manager Dave Martinez said. “He was one pitch away from having an unbelievable outing.”

Irvin retired the top of the Phillies' order -- Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper -- in the first inning on just 11 pitches.

A leadoff single in the second by J.T. Realmuto put a runner on base before Alec Bohm roped a line drive to right field that evaded Lane Thomas' diving attempt. Realmuto raced around to score as Bohm coasted into third for a triple.

But Irvin then locked in to avoid further damage by inducing three consecutive groundouts to the end inning.

That one pitch Martinez referred to came in the third frame. After getting two quick outs, Irvin then gave up a double to Turner before intentionally walking the left-handed-hitting Harper, who entered the game with a career .548 slugging percentage against right-handers.

“The numbers, to me, matched up,” said Martinez. “We’ve seen what Bryce can do to us.”

The strategy didn’t yield the results the Nationals were looking for, as Irvin dealt a trio of curveballs to Realmuto, with the third hanging over the middle on an 0-2 count.

“Just got way too much of the plate,” said Irvin.

Realmuto recognized the opportunity, belting a three-run homer to put the Nats in a 4-0 hole.

“Once you get to two strikes, you've just got to shorten up,” said Realmuto. “I can't think about what pitch he's going to throw me, because then I'll get beat by his fastball. I'm still trying to stay on time for a fastball, but just really let the ball travel a little more and make a good swing decision and not try to hit the ball out of the park, which is funny, because that's what happened."

The Nationals answered immediately in the bottom of the third, with Joey Gallo clubbing a two-run homer for the 200th home run of his career. Unfortunately for Washington, that would prove to be the club's only offensive production on the night.

With a year of big league experience behind him, Irvin implemented an unnerved mentality. He retired the next seven batters and tossed three scoreless innings following Realmuto's blast. A double play in which Irvin caught Bohm swinging and catcher Keibert Ruiz nabbed Realmuto attempting to steal second wrapped Irvin’s outing.

“That’s something that always kind of comes with learning,” Irvin said. “You’ve got to realize that baseball’s a tough game. Be able to just live with the good and the bad, live in an attack mode until the manager takes the ball from you.”

Given what he's seen so far, Martinez has confidence handing Irvin the ball every five days.

“I told him, ‘Overall, Jake, you’ve got to be proud of what you did -- that’s not an easy lineup to go through,’” Martinez said. “He went through those guys four times and did really well. Let’s build off of that one."