Irvin sharp, Martinez ejected and Nats sloppy in loss (updated)

Although they lost an off-day, the Nationals were hoping to use this makeup game against the Diamondbacks to create some momentum before heading out on a nine-game road trip.

Yesterday’s win over the Cardinals was only their fourth since the start of June. Putting together back-to-back wins to end this homestand would have made for a happy flight out west.

Davey Martinez applauded his team for playing clean baseball during yesterday’s rainy conditions. But the Nats got sloppy again, committing two errors and allowing four unearned runs in a 5-3 loss to the D-backs in front of 13,251 fans who withstood the misty weather.

"We can't give good teams 28-29 outs. We can't," Martinez said after their 14th loss this month. "I think we had four unearned runs today. Take those away and we're right in the ballgame. So we gotta get better at that, we really do. And if we do that, we're going to be able to compete. So we got to just come back tomorrow and play a good, clean baseball game and see where we're at.”

Weird circumstances surrounded today’s getaway game, which technically was recognized as a one-game series since it was rescheduled from June 8 due to poor air quality in the D.C. area from the Canada wildfires.

The weirdness continued when Martinez got unusually upset and vocal about home plate umpire Doug Eddings’ strike zone, leading to his first ejection of the season.

CJ Abrams got rung for his second strikeout looking to end the fourth inning. Called out in the previous inning on a 91 mph fastball down the middle, this time the young shortstop took an 84 mph slider that was clearly well below the zone with two runners on base and down by one run. Abrams and the Nationals dugout were none too happy.

In the top of the fifth, after Jake Irvin struck out Nick Ahmed with a 95 mph fastball, Martinez kept chirping from the top step of the dugout and eventually emerged. After what seemed like a normal conversation between umpire and heated manager, Martinez eventually said the magic words while walking away, causing Edding to finally toss him from the game.

“I wasn't the one screaming in the dugout," he said. "I mean, it was loud. You could hear everything. But we're in a crucial situation right there and the call was bad. Look, like I said before, nothing against the umpires, but I'm gonna protect my players and that's all there is to it. So it was just at that moment, it was crucial. He takes the pitch, he does a good job. Maybe he gets to the next pitch, who knows? Maybe he gets a base hit and we're back in the ballgame. So it's just a tough situation.”

Martinez got his money’s worth. While even more animated than before, he cleaned off the plate with a towel and laid down in the batter’s box. The two then seemed to have a more civil conversation as Martinez finally left the field.

“Heck yeah," Irvin said when asked if he appreciates his manager sticking up for the team. "That's Davey standing up for guys that have been working really, really hard to right this ship. He's our leader, man. When when a guy comes out and battles for us like that, it's motivational. We see it. We see how much he cares and we're gonna keep working hard, that's for sure.”

That didn’t prove to be helpful, as Riley Adams was called out on a ball well outside the zone in the seventh and Abrams was called for his third strikeout looking two batters later.

“I don't really want to get much into it," said Adams, who also was behind the plate today while Keibert Ruiz was the designated hitter. "The one strike three for me, I just thought it was out and that's it's all I had on that. I thought I worked a good at-bat and that was pretty much it.”

This was Martinez’s 11th ejection of his managerial career, 12th including the infamous one in Game 6 of the 2019 World Series.

“It's awesome," Adams said. "I know Davey's always got our backs. He's always fighting for us and we're fighting together to get those dubs. I know he's got our backs.”

As for the game itself, the Nationals did see one positive development. But that wasn’t enough to earn a victory.

Irvin, making his second start since having his spot in the rotation last week for a physical and mental reset, had a strong outing.

With his velocity up across the board, the rookie right-hander turned in his second quality start of his major league career and one of the better outings during his time with the Nationals. And it came against a team he struggled against two weeks ago.

“I think it's obviously good facing a team that quickly," he said. "You get a good feel of what they like to do and a quick turnaround and get to see them again. So I had to use that to my advantage and definitely felt more comfortable facing a team that I had already thrown to.”

The only blemishes on his record were far from his fault. With a runner on first in the first inning, Irvin gave up a single to center to Christian Walker. But Derek Hill muffed the ball for a fielding error, allowing Walker to come around to score and give the Diamondbacks a quick 1-0 lead.

Irvin settled in from there. He struck out the side in the second with a pair of 96 mph fastballs and an 84 mph curveball, and then retired the side in order in the third.

He was then a victim of some more poor defense in the fourth. After a leadoff single and stolen base by Corbin Carroll – the eighth swiped bag by the D-backs over these last three games against the Nats – Luis García lost a seemingly routine popup in shallow center field by Lourdes Gurriel Jr., setting up Carroll to score from third on a sac fly one batter later.

"I could have played it a lot better," García said via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "I saw the swing and go up with the ball and I felt it was farther behind me. But I didn't take into account the wind. There was a little breeze coming in. I looked up and I saw it behind me the second time. And then when I looked up again, I saw it had kind of changed a little bit direction. I tried to make an attempt to make a play on it, but it was too late.”

But Irvin’s final line remained an impressive one. He completed six innings with five hits, two runs (one earned), one walk, six strikeouts and a hit batter on 87 pitches, 61 strikes.

"I thought Jake had one of his better outings," Martinez said. "It was awesome. He threw the ball really well."

Much like Irvin didn’t get help from his defense, he didn’t get much run support either.

“That's out of my control," Irvin said. "I can't do anything about it once the ball leaves my hand, unless it's hit to me. So you just get back up on the hill next pitch.”

Lane Thomas’ solo homer in the third was the only run scored with Irvin on the mound. He hit an 86 mph changeup from Diamondbacks lefty Tommy Henry 363 feet to the left field corner, just far enough to land in the flowerbeds below the railing for his team-leading 12th of the season.

Other than that, Henry was in much more control than he was two weeks ago when he gave up five runs over 4 ⅓ innings, including two homers (one a grand slam from Stone Garrett).

The 27 Nats batters he faced made him throw only 90 pitches, just over three pitches per plate appearance. He finished 6 ⅔ innings of one-run ball with seven hits, one walk and five strikeouts.

Even so, the Nationals still found themselves only down by one run going into the seventh inning. Then Jordan Weems, who Davey Martinez mentioned yesterday was going to have to pitch more high-leverage situations with Carl Edwards Jr. on the 15-day injured list, entered and gave the D-backs a much bigger lead.

A throwing error by García, who didn’t set his feet, allowed the leadoff runner to reach. And then a walk to Geraldo Perdomo put two runners on for Ketel Marte’s three-run homer to right. Weem’s 94 mph fastball was just above the zone and Marte was able to crush it 394 feet.

"I wouldn't have played it any differently," García said. "Unfortunately when I got up, my right leg hit my left knee and it kind of caught me off balance. And I felt I had a rush at that moment and that's when I felt a little off balance. Obviously, the throw didn't go as I planned. But otherwise, I would have played it the same way.”

All three runs were unearned, making only one Diamondbacks run scored today actually earned, but they were no less damaging to the Nationals’ cause.

Adams did come through with a two-run homer in the ninth, his third hit of the day (all on the first pitch) as he continues to crush left-handed pitching. His third homer of the season came on a first-pitch sinker from lefty reliever Joe Mantiply and was mashed 404 feet into right-center field.

“Just trying to be a little more aggressive and make sure I'm on time," he said. "I was able to do that today for the most part. So I was pretty happy with that.”

But outside of the homer and Ruiz’s leadoff double in the ninth, the Nats didn’t get a baserunner against the Arizona bullpen.

The Nats finished 1-6 on this homestand and are 4-14 in June, and have some sloppy play to blame.

“There's no emphasis on it because this is the big league level," García said of playing clean baseball. "We know coming up there are 27 outs. We can't give up any outs to anybody. And we know that. No one has to tell us that. Unfortunately, a lot of times when you do give up errors, then they end up obviously costing us runs, which they have been. But we know what we have to do. It's not about putting emphasis on it. It's you know coming up through the miners, 27 outs, you get every out possible.”

Now they have to board a quiet flight to San Diego to begin their long trek across the country.

But it won't be as quiet when they arrive at Petco Park tomorrow, as Davey Martinez is going to have to have some discussions about the quality of play.

“That line has been crossed. It really has," Davey Martinez said. "I have my conversations. And I'll have a conversation tomorrow as well. But in order for us to get better and to compete and compete with really good teams, we gotta clean it up. We really do. There's times when we play really good. There's times when we play good teams really, really well. And if we happen to get beat, we get beat. That's part of it. But to beat ourselves, that's not who we are. I won't allow that. That's unacceptable. So there will definitely be conversations tomorrow about it. But we definitely got to keep it up and we'll stay on these guys to get better at it.”