Jake

Irvin

Irvin’s poor second half mercifully ended with another clunker. The Phillies jumped on him for two runs in the first inning and then he fell apart in the fifth when the first four batters he faced reached base and then Weston Wilson hit a back-breaking two-run double. He’s tried to move away from his curveball lately after its effectiveness waned as his primary pitch, but his fastball and sinker aren’t good enough to carry this much of the load. He will need to find a new wrinkle before next season if he wants to reach the same heights he had in the first half.

Irvin has given up at least five runs in six of his last 13 starts, sending his ERA soaring from 2.80 to 4.22. At 29, he’s tied with Aaron Nola for the second most homers allowed among NL pitchers, one behind Austin Gomber. His final start will come against the Phillies.

Irvin gave up four hits, walked one and struck out five. Irvin allowed a double to Tyron Taylor to start the eighth inning. Taylor scored to tie the game on a two-out RBI single by Jose Iglesias after Irvin was already out of the game. He pitched well enough to win, but the Nationals supported him with only one run. Irvin is 10-12 with a 4.07 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 150 strikeouts in 179 1/3 innings on the year. The 27-year-old right-hander is set to face the Cubs on the road this weekend.

The struggling Irvin has recently flipped his whole plan of attack, going away from his curveball in favor of more fastballs and sinkers. He only threw his curveball 12% of the time in this one – a season-low – while throwing 57% fastballs – his highest rate since April 17th. He leaned on that fastball in tense situations too. Marcell Ozuna came up in the sixth inning after Michael Harris and Jorge Soler each doubled and after a seven pitch battle, Irvin struck him out with a fastball at his letters. It’s been nice to see Irvin adjust after allowing 16 homers across 63 innings through July and August. He’s scheduled to face the Mets and Cubs, both on the road, next week in a two-start week.

Irvin struck out four and walked three. He gave up seven hits, but somehow none of them wound up leaving the yard. On the heels of back-to-back lackluster outings, he’ll aim to rebound on Wednesday when he faces the division-rival Braves.

Well, the good news is Irvin finally started to miss some bats again. His six strikeouts were the most in a single game since July 21st and 14 swings-and-misses his most since July 4th. Now the bad, he imploded for seven runs in the second inning on six hits and one loud home run from Cody Bellinger. Strangely, that was all he’d allow as he did well to keep his curveball and sinker low in the zone besides that one faithful inning. He lines up to face the Pirates on the road in his next start.

Irvin gave up five hits, walked three and struck out three. He allowed a solo home run to Orlando Arcia in the fifth inning and an RBI double to Matt Olson in the sixth inning. Irvin is 9-10 with a 3.80 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 130 strikeouts in 156 1/3 innings this year. The 27-year-old right-hander is set to face the Cubs at home next week.

Irvin officially has a home run problem. His day ended after back-to-back home runs from Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh, who are both as cold as can be, brought the Phillies even in the sixth inning. Trea Turner also took him deep earlier in the game. That pushed Irvin’s home run total up to 24 on the season, tied for second most in the league. He’s also allowed an unconscionable 14 homers in eight starts since his Fourth of July gem against the Mets. That’s four more than any other pitcher over that stretch. This is a big problem and it may not get better in his next scheduled start against the Braves.

Irvin also struck out three and walked one while inducing 10 whiffs on 49 swings for a 20 percent whiff rate and 25 percent CSW. The only extra-base hit he allowed was a solo home run to Anthony Santander in the third inning as Irvin kept the Orioles off the barrel of the bat for much of the evening. He’ll now take a 3.72 ERA into a matchup in Philadelphia. He should be left on fantasy benches for that one outside of the deepest formats.

There were calls for Irvin to make the All-Star team a month ago, but he’s posted a 6.82 ERA in his last six starts, mostly because he’s given up as many homers (10) as he did in his first 18 starts. He’ll face the Orioles next.