2024-06-24T11:06:52.552ZJake Irvin allowed one hit and one run over six innings Saturday as the Nationals beat the Rays. (Mark Taylor/Getty Images)ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Perhaps Jake Irvin’s name hasn’t been thrown around as a potential National League all-star because he was never expected to be. He had a 4.61 ERA as a rookie a season ago, loosely positioning himself at the back of the Washington Nationals’ rotation this year. Nothing was guaranteed.Perhaps it’s because he isn’t as famous as a seasoned veteran or a highly touted prospect. After all, he was a fourth-round pick in 2018 who only debuted last season because of an injury. But after six innings Saturday in which he allowed just one hit and one run — leading the Nationals to an 8-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field — Irvin continues to make a case that he should be in the all-star mix.Don’t ask him if he should be, though.“I’m not going to answer that, no,” he said with a chuckle.But here’s an argument for him to be in the Midsummer Classic after the Nationals snapped a four-game skid: Irvin lowered his ERA to 3.03 after 17 starts, good for ninth in the NL. He’s right below the St. Louis Cardinals’ Sonny Gray and just above the Chicago Cubs’ Shota Imanaga and the San Francisco Giants’ Logan Webb, all certainly in the All-Star Game mix. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 13 starts. He ranks in the top 13 in the NL in walks and hits per inning pitched (1.06, eighth) and opponent’s batting average (.224, tied for 13th).“I think a lot of our guys should be all-stars, but I hope he gets an opportunity to,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “He’s definitely done well. He’s kept us in every game, and it’s been phenomenal.”Since last year’s all-star break, Irvin has been the Nationals’ most consistent pitcher. And this season, he has taken his game to another level, transforming himself from rotation hopeful to rotation mainstay. And perhaps the most notable part of Irvin’s impressive outing Saturday is that he didn’t have great command of his best secondary pitch early.Over 24 starts in 2023, he threw his curveball for a strike 58.7 percent of the time, according to TruMedia. This year, he has raised that mark to 66.3 percent. Hitters are batting just .196 against the pitch.But Irvin said Tropicana Field has one of the steeper mounds in the majors. And after impressing Sunday at the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field, which has one of the shorter mounds in the majors, his curveball wasn’t breaking Saturday as it usually does. He was pulling his curveball into the left-handed batter’s box in the first two innings.After the first, pitching strategist Sean Doolittle told Irvin his curveball shape was different than normal; Martinez said it was breaking more like a sweeper. Irvin quickly made an adjustment.“I try not to let the mound come into play,” he said. “But when it does, just try to make that adjustment and try to do it in as few pitches as possible.”Irvin trimmed his ERA to 3.03. (Steve Nesius/AP)Irvin had an early 1-0 lead thanks to CJ Abrams, who hit his third leadoff homer of the season. In the bottom half, Brandon Lowe hit a popup in foul territory that catcher Keibert Ruiz settled under. But the ball landed on a catwalk and never came down for a foul ball. On the next pitch, Lowe hit a solo home run that tied the score.That was the only hit Irvin allowed. He continued to attack with his curveball — 44 of his 96 pitches were curveballs even though he threw it in the zone just 36 percent of the time. And even though Irvin walked three hitters, none of them got past first base.“Really good,” Ruiz said. “He was making pitches when we needed to. His sinker was there. His curveball was really good. ... I loved the way he pitched.”Despite Irvin’s effectiveness, he is 6-6, yet another sign that a pitcher’s record often better represents his team’s performance than his own. In this case, the Nationals have struggled to provide run support. For most of this one, it appeared he was in for more of the same.Entering the seventh inning, the Nationals only managed to lead thanks to a smart baserunning play by Luis García Jr., who scored on a wild pitch in the fourth to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead.Jacob Young sprints home to score in the seventh inning. (Mark Taylor/Getty Images)But in the seventh, after Jacob Young singled, Abrams nearly hit his second home run. Instead, the ball bounced off the wall in left field for a double that extended the Nationals’ lead. That swing seemed to open the floodgates. The next six at-bats: single by Lane Thomas, RBI single by Jesse Winker, lineout by Joey Meneses, RBI single by García, two-run triple by Harold Ramirez and RBI single by Ruiz. Just like that, the Nationals led 8-1 before the bullpen finished the job for Irvin.“Everybody was staying in the middle of the field,” Martinez said. “We got to continue to do that — figure out ways to score runs like that.”