PITTSBURGH – Jake Irvin had done everything in his power to win this game for the Nationals and put an end to their three-game losing streak, precisely the kind of performance the situation called for.
Irvin authored seven scoreless innings on a frigid Tuesday night, and doing it on an economical 87 pitches. And now all he could do was watch from the visitors’ dugout at PNC Park like everyone else and hope his teammates could finish off the Pirates.
That’s been anything but a given for the Nats bullpen through the first 16 games of the season. But on this night, the two reliable back-end relievers did their job without breaking a sweat, Jose A. Ferrer and Kyle Finnegan teaming up to complete a 3-0 shutout and ensure Irvin's efforts were properly rewarded.
"We needed that today," manager Davey Martinez said. "He stepped up big-time."
Irvin was more than worthy of his first win of the year. Ferrer was more than worthy of his fourth hold of the year, throwing 14 of his 15 pitches for strikes. And Finnegan was more than worthy of his sixth save in as many attempts, finishing things off with a scoreless ninth to complete a 2-hour, 16-minute ballgame.
"It gives us the security we need back there, and obviously like to have," Ferrer said of Irvin's seven zeros, via interpreter Kenny Diaz. "It also gives me a lot of motivation to finish out. It's not always easy to go put up zeros to a major league lineup. It just gives us more motivation to go out there, get the W and hold it for him."
The Nationals (7-10) got back on track after three straight road losses in Miami and Pittsburgh, with a chance still to capture this four-game series if they can win the next two days.
This game did include a frightening moment in the top of the sixth, when Paul DeJong took a fastball from Mitch Keller off the left side of his face and went down in a heap. As DeJong lay on the ground and Nationals director of athletic training Paul Lessard rushed to apply a towel to his bleeding cheek and nose, Keller and Pirates catcher Henry Davis crouched nearby and watched, hoping it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
DeJong was ultimately able to walk off the field under his own power, still holding the towel to his face, with a cut visible below his left eye. Amed Rosario took his place in the lineup and at third base, everyone in the Nats dugout waiting to get official word on DeJong, who left the ballpark for a CT scan.
"He got a little lightheaded when he went down the steps," Martinez said. "But he was able to get up on his feet and come to the clubhouse. That's definitely encouraging. Hopefully everything's OK."
With CJ Abrams on the injured list and Alex Call getting the night off, Martinez decided to just move everybody up a slot in the lineup, making James Wood his leadoff hitter. Wood responded with the kind of instant offense a manager can only dream of.
Wood worked the game’s first at-bat to a full count, then got a fastball from Keller and destroyed it. The ball finally landed 445 feet away, clearing the center field stands and bouncing out of the ballpark altogether, towards the Allegheny River. It was the longest of Wood’s 15 career major league home runs, five of those coming in his last eight games.
"I just heard the crack of the bat, and that's it," Irvin said. "The guy's a freaking tone-setter. It makes my job a lot easier when we have a guy who can come out and set the tone like that."
"I just think the goal going into today ... we just tried to get ahead early," said Wood, currently tied for second in the majors in homers. "Take some pressure off the pitchers and just set the tone."
That one run had to hold up for five innings, because neither pitcher allowed anything else.
Irvin permitted only one Pittsburgh batter to reach base through the fourth, and that came via Tommy Pham’s excuse-me dribbler to third for a second-inning single. Eschewing long sleeves despite the 38-degree wind chill, the proud Minnesotan otherwise was both sharp and efficient, completing those first four frames on 52 pitches.
Irvin got himself into his only jam in the fifth, with two on and nobody out. And he promptly responded by getting Adam Frazier to fly out and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground into a double play.
And because he completed the sixth on a mere 76 pitches, Irvin was given the opportunity to re-take the mound and attempt to become the Nationals’ first starter to complete seven innings this season.
"The day after a bullpen game like (Monday), you really want to give the team as many innings as possible," he said. "Getting as deep as i did, it definitely feels good to do it for the team."
With his pitch count still only 87, Irvin looked like he could potentially return for the bottom of the eighth. But after getting struck on the right thigh by a comebacker in the bottom of the first, he wasn't feeling 100 percent on this cold night and understood there was no reason to push things, instead trusting the bullpen to finish what he started.
"I think the adrenaline gets you through the first few innings, and then after that you just grind," he said. "Find a way and make pitches, even if I didn't feel my best."
By that point, the lead had grown to 3-0 thanks to another quality plate appearance from Nasim Nuñez. The young shortstop, making his second straight start in place of the injured Abrams, worked a 10-pitch at-bat against Keller, then lined a two-out, two-run single to center to provide his starter some much appreciated cushion.
Nuñez is now 4-for-7 since his promotion from Triple-A Rochester, picking up right where he left off this spring in West Palm Beach, where he batted .419 and delivered a .970 OPS.
"Great at-bat," Martinez said. "He fought and got a pitch up in the zone and stayed through it. It broke his bat, but he stayed through it and got a base hit up the middle. Big hit for us."