Highlight reel play in field becomes signature moment of Irvin's start

NEW YORK – It was the first, and arguably only time Jake Irvin faced real danger Monday night. Having set down the first nine Mets he faced, now here was the Nationals right-hander dealing with a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the bottom of the fourth.

Mark Vientos had worked the count to 2-2, and as the Citi Field crowd stood and roared in search of a hit that would put the home team on top in a must-win game, it looked like Vientos had delivered. Albeit not with a line drive to a gap, but a little dribbler up the third base line.

It’s not always how you hit them, but where you hit them, and this looked like a perfectly placed infield single at the right moment.

For Irvin, it was a chance to put into practice what he and other Nationals pitchers had worked on countless times during spring training and on occasion during the season as well.

“In the moment, you can’t really think about it. You rely on your preparation,” the right-hander said. “I guess when you see the ball go down there, imagine in your head making that play. Be convicted in it.”

Irvin scampered over from his position on the mound to retrieve the ball in his bare hand. He then planted his right foot and fired a perfect strike to Juan Yepez at first base, somehow beating Vientos to the bag by a split-second for the biggest out of the game to that point.

“What an unbelievable play,” manager Davey Martinez said. “For him to be able to come up and have the awareness to make a good throw like that, it was awesome. We were all jacked up, and he was really jacked up.”

Oh, was he ever. As Irvin walked off the field, he pumped his fist, then threw his arms in the air and waved them, all while shaking his head and letting out a primal scream.

The 27-year-old has shown emotion on the field before, but usually at the end of his outing. Like he did after completing the eighth inning of a one-hit shutout July 4 against this same Mets lineup.

This was only the fourth inning, and he delivered the kind of reaction you might expect for a big out in October, not September for a team with no chance of making the playoffs.

Did Irvin realize in the moment how fired up he was?

“When it’s like that, yeah,” he said with a laugh. “Then it’s trying to bring it back to neutral, because you’re not trying to stay too high or allow that to take away from what you’re doing in the game. I definitely knew it, but tried to bring it back to center.”

Truth be told, that might be the most impressive part of Irvin’s outing Monday night. Even though the emotional high point came at the end of the fourth, he managed to keep his elite performance going through the seventh, facing the minimum over his final three full innings before he finally succumbed in the eighth and gave up the double that would ultimately lead to the tying run.

How did Irvin rediscover his composure after such a public release of emotion?

“I looked at him,” Martinez said, “and he just turned around and looked at me and goes: ‘I’m OK!’”

Yes, he was. Though Irvin and the Nationals wound up losing 2-1 in 10 innings, his 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball stood tall at night’s end, the latest in a number of dominant starts he has put together this season.

And the moment that defined the whole night had nothing to do with a pitch he threw. It had everything to do with a play he made in the field.

“I think we try to preach the fundamentals here, and for me, I take a lot of pride in fielding my position,” Irvin said. “There’s eight guys back there, and I’m one of them. I have to be able to make plays in a big situation like that. It’s definitely rewarding to put in the work and have something like that happen.”