Irvin continues to impress while windy day keeps bats at bay

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Spring training results, especially early in camp, don’t really carry much weight for a variety of reasons. Starters don’t play the whole nine innings. Pitchers often work on different pitches. And minor leaguers can fill out a lineup against major leaguers.

Another factor affecting play, especially in South Florida, is the weather.

The sun can blind fielders on popups. Clouds can roll in and out in a matter of seconds. Rain can downpour and then vanish just as quickly. And the wind can blow all over the field at high speeds.

It seemed like the wind was the 10th fielder for both teams during the Nationals’ 6-4 loss to the Cardinals at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. With gusts between 20-30 mph coming in from the right field corner, most fly balls died in the outfield.

The benefactors: Starting pitchers Jake Irvin and Michael McGreevy.

Making his third start of spring, Irvin became the first Nationals starter to complete four innings, allowing two hits, no runs and one walk with one strikeout. He threw 56 pitches, one shy of a 20-pitch increase from his previous outing and one shy of tying Trevor Williams for the most by a starter this spring.

“Very efficient,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He threw the ball really well. He really did. What can you say when he gives you four innings, 56 pitches and still had a lot in the tank? So it was a good outing for him.”

The base hits were line-drive singles by Luken Baker in the second and Nolan Gorman in the fourth. But the Nats right-hander tossed perfect 1-2-3 innings in the first and third frames.

“I still want to emphasize throwing all my off-speed pitches for strikes,” Irvin said. “I think that that's been a big emphasis of camp, and something I want to continue to work on. As for what we've done well, throwing off-speed pitches for strikes. It's the emphasis of camp and something that I want to continue to do really well, but getting ahead of hitters, too. I want to continue to do that.”

One of those pitches includes his new slider, which he is tinkering with and trying to gain more confidence throwing.

“It's something that has been really good at times. But the consistency is the name of the game,” Irvin said. “So getting the consistent shape on it, but also just consistently being able to throw it for strikes. It's been a good pitch so far. I'm really excited about where it's headed, but definitely still working on the confidence with that.”

The Nats bats only managed one hit off McGreevy – a two-out single to center by Amed Rosario in the third – while watching three hard-hit fly balls result in outs instead of hits. Josh Bell suffered the biggest robbery by the wind with a well-struck ball to lead off the bottom of the second. A no-doubt home run on any other day, the heavy winds knocked it down at the wall for center fielder Michael Siani.

In all, the Nats sent six fly balls to the outfield, all getting knocked down for outs. For the most part, the Cardinals’ fly balls suffered the same fates except for one. Thomas Saggese managed to hit one off Lucas Sims at the perfect time in between gusts to just barely clear the fence in left field.

So the offenses had to rely on walks and line drives.

First, the Cardinals took advantage of mistakes by Evan Reifert in the seventh. The Rule 5 Draft pick walked four of the five batters he faced, including the last three in a row, to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Lars Nootbaar then drove in the remaining two baserunners with a single off Cole Henry.

“A little bit of fighting himself,” Martinez said of Reifert’s struggles. “He was opening up too soon. He was a little quick. We'll get him settled back in, settled down. Like I said, just gotta get the ball over the plate a little bit. He's got a really good slider. I think he's just trying to do too much with it today.”

The Nationals, however, responded in the bottom of the inning. With the bases loaded thanks to two walks and a single, Alex Call drove in two runners with a line drive single up the middle to cut the Cardinals’ lead in half. Then Rosario completed the comeback by sending the remaining two runners home with his own single to center.

But then Cardinals minor leaguer Yordalin Pena launched a ball off Andry Lara for a two-run homer in the ninth, another St. Louis shot not bothered by the wind. The Nats rallied in the bottom of the inning, but Andrew Pinckney grounded into a force out at second while representing the game-winning run.

“We hit the ball well. We did,” Martinez said. “The one inning, they really tried to stay in the middle of the field. We scored some runs, good at-bats. So we gotta continue to get better.”

* The Nationals announced Stone Garrett cleared waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment last week when the team re-signed Kyle Finnegan.