Wood's big blast, Irvin's quality start lift Nats to sweep (updated)

The formula that won Saturday night’s game wasn’t going to be plausible today. The Nationals simply couldn’t afford another ultra-abbreviated outing from their starter, putting even more strain on an already strained bullpen.

So Jake Irvin did his part, rediscovering the form that made him one of the league’s breakout pitchers in the first half of the season. And then James Wood made sure that pitching performance would count with one huge late swing.

Wood’s three-run homer off reliever Justin Wilson turned a tie game in the bottom of the eighth into a 5-2 Nats victory and a three-game sweep of the Reds to kick off the season’s second half in decidedly upbeat fashion.

"We're right there with them," Wood said of a Nationals team that has won five of six and currently sits four games out of a wide-open Wild Card race. "We're trying to make a push, too."

Wood stepped to the plate with two out and two on in the eighth, Cincinnati manager David Bell summoning Wilson specifically to face him. The rookie had batted against the veteran left-hander Saturday night, grounding out on the fifth pitch of that at-bat. He wasted no time today, aggressively going after Wilson’s first-pitch fastball and driving it 404 feet to left for his second career homer.

"I just felt comfortable going up there," he said. "I'd seen the guy yesterday, so it was still pretty fresh in my head. I just felt like I had a good plan and was able to get a good pitch to hit."

It was the third time Wood hit a ball harder than 105 mph in this game, neither of the previous two producing a result as meaningful as this one. He also hit a ball to the warning track in center field in his other plate appearance today.

"I kind of just kept my head up," Wood said. "I felt like I was making good contact, and I kind of just had to trust that the results would come."

His team suddenly ahead late, manager Davey Martinez decided to summon Kyle Finnegan from the bullpen for the third time in less than 48 hours. And the All-Star closer did as he did Friday and Saturday nights, quickly taking care of business for his 28th save in 32 attempts to cap off one of the craziest - but also most gratifying - weeks of his career.

"It's been a wild week," said Finnegan, who found out he made the All-Star team one day before the game in Arlington, Texas. "Especially these last three games. We've been playing great baseball, keeping us in games. Relievers take pride in pitching in a lot of games, in a lot of close games. We're really fortunate we've been able to come away with three wins here and sweep the Reds to start off the second half."

It had been a brilliant first half for Irvin, who thrust himself into the All-Star conversation with a top-five ERA and WHIP while also ranking among the league leaders in innings pitched. But the grind of a long first half with no off-days during the final two weeks before the break, left many on the Nationals pitching staff gassed. And Irvin was no exception: He gave up 13 runs on 18 hits over his final 10 innings, watching his ERA skyrocket from 2.80 to 3.49 in the process.

The right-hander’s last start, though, came a full week ago. That gave him a few extra days to refresh himself before taking the mound again this afternoon.

"He's in a good spot," Martinez said prior to the game. "I think out of anybody, he really could've used the rest over the All-Star break, even though I felt like he pitched really well in the first half. Hopefully he continues to do that in the second half."

Today’s outing offered encouraging signs Irvin will be able to do just that. He came out of the chute firing strikes, retiring the side on 10 pitches in the top of the first and striking out four of the first five batters he faced overall.

"He was really good," Martinez said. "He was sharp."

Then came the first of Irvin’s two mistakes. He hung a 1-1 curveball to Noelvi Marte in the top of the second and watched it soar to left for a solo homer. Three innings later, he left a 3-2 fastball over the plate to Stuart Fairchild, who also homered to left.

Though he admitted he made a couple more mistakes during the game, those two truly were the only ones that cost Irvin. He consistently got ahead in the count, did not walk a batter and gave up mostly weak contact when the Reds did put bat on ball. He finished the sixth on 88 pitches, and that left enough wiggle room for Martinez to send him back out there for the seventh.

Irvin rewarded his manager’s faith with a 1-2-3 final frame, blowing a fastball past Will Benson for his seventh strikeout on his 100th and final pitch of the day.

"I think the break served as a nice little refresher," the right-hander said. "Just a reminder to stay grounded, to be where your feet are and live in attack mode. Coming out today and trying to get the sweep, setting the tone for me was just to keep us in the game and allow us to do the things we did on offense. And it was pretty sweet."

Irvin did not, however, qualify for the win because he departed with the game tied. The Nationals gave themselves ample opportunities to score more against Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott, putting at least one runner on base in each of the first six innings. But they pushed only two of them across the plate, and in each case the run was deemed unearned.

Juan Yepez’s two-out double in the bottom of third not only extended his hitting streak to 13 games, it put two runners in scoring position, with Jacob Young ahead of him at third base. Young, though, looked like he was about to be picked off by catcher Austin Wynns, only to have the good fortune to reverse course and trot home after the throw got away from Marte.

Moments later, Harold Ramírez singled to left, scoring Yepez and completing the two-run rally. Now the Nationals just needed to find a way to score at least once more in search of a rare series sweep.

They did score once more. Actually, they scored three more thanks to one massive swing from a budding 21-year-old star.

"Electric," Irvin said. "He's something special. And I'm excited to be a part of it."