There was a point where Jake Irvin was really good, and during that stretch of his outings he smothered the Braves with two scoreless outings over a total of 12 innings and a K/BB ratio of 14/4. These days, Jake Irvin is struggling, and while the Braves didn’t destroy him or anything, they finally got to him en route to another win and their fourth straight Series victory.
Charlie Morton has had an inconsistent season so far, and with two good performances in a row, there was a distinct possibility that he could trouble a weakened Washington team, or the alternative that he could struggle against them again this season. Initially, it looked like the latter would happen.
Morton took the first inning with ease, collecting two strikeouts in a perfect 13-pitch frame. After another three-pitch out early in the second, he then misfired, had trouble finding the zone against Keibert Ruiz and eventually walked him. He then threw a very powerful changeup that Jose Tena slammed into right-center field for his first career home run, putting the Braves behind 2-0.
The rest of the game wasn’t as pleasant for Morton, but from there on out he kept the Nationals off the scoreboard. The second saw two more singles after Tena’s home run, but Morton escaped the pinch by catching Jacob Young at first base. The third saw a single, a steal and a walk, but two strikeouts and an easy lineout to right ended that run. The fourth included a bloop ground rule double with one out, but two hard-hit outs (one high, another hit into the ground) and Morton was through four. The fifth began with even more drama, as a hard-hit single and a bloop single put two runs on base with no outs. But a 5-3 double play and a groundout meant that despite all the action on the Washington bases, the Braves only went into the fifth with those two runs.
The Braves, meanwhile, were particularly frustrated by Irvin. They had two players on base early in the first on a single and a walk, but Marcell Ozuna worked a double play, and after Irvin allowed a walk to Olson, Travis d’Arnaud (who was back in the lineup for the first time in six games) struck out. The Braves also failed to get anything done with a leadoff single in the second, and Ozuna worked a second consecutive double play after Whit Merrifield allowed a walk with one out in the third.
So it took five innings, but the Braves finally got the better of Irvin in this game. With two outs and a 3-2 count in the fifth inning, Orlando Arcia got a very slanted curveball and served it into the left field corner for a solo home run. It was one of the weaker home runs you’ll see this year – 93.4 mph off the bat – but it was placed right where its 363 feet of distance meant a run on the board instead of a boring fly out.
With the game now a little tighter, it was time for the daily bullpen battle. Morton got two outs on a single in the sixth inning; he was replaced with 95 pitches, two outs and a runner on second base for Aaron Bummer, who struck out Joey Gallo to keep the one-run deficit intact. And then the Braves finally broke through against Irvin.
Merrifield started the second part of the sixth inning by hitting a ball hard to right for a single. Ozuna followed by not making a double play but throwing the ball down the right field line. The big guy tried to drag himself to second base but was thrown out; Merrifield made it to third base with the tying run. The Nationals then took Irvin off the field and replaced him with left-hander Robert Garcia.
Garcia faced Olson yesterday and threw three fastballs in a row: two up the middle (taken, missed) and then one up and in (missed, strikeout). This time he basically did the same thing again: two up the middle (missed, foul blocked) and one up and in. But this time Olson was prepared for the third, and although he hit the ball pretty mediocre considering he clearly guessed right (97 mph, 30 degree launch angle), the ball still flew and bounced high off the bricks in right-center, leading to a double to tie the game. D’Arnaud followed with a 101 mph grounder up the middle to give the Braves the lead and score Olson from second base.
Things got a little silly after that. Ramon Laureano hit a routine double play ball, but CJ Abrams, who came out on top yesterday and gave the Braves a walkoff win by throwing out a routine grounder with two outs, just kicked it away. The Braves then brought in Jorge Soler as a pinch hitter against Garcia, but the Nationals countered with Tanner Rainey, who rewarded the change with a strikeout. Gio Urshela followed with a soft bouncer down the third base line that was caught by Tena on a leap, loading the bases, and Rainey struck out Arcia with a pitch that was very deep and far away (a pitch that Arcia had caught twice in the PA up to that point).
Dylan Lee led off the seventh with ten pitches and three boring flyouts. The Braves couldn’t touch Jose Ferrer in the eighth, aside from a single by Merrifield. It was the fourth time Merrifield reached base that night. Grant Holmes came on for the eighth and managed a couple of singles, but got away with a routine fly ball to center. (The Nationals really loved hitting run-of-the-mill fly balls in this game.)
The Braves scored their fourth and final run of the game when Ramon Laureano hit a deep hit to Joe La Sorsa in the eighth inning; the ball was absolutely hit into left-center field. Pierce Johnson, pitching with a two-run lead, had the loosest ninth inning since Raisel Iglesias, literally throwing all four pitches to get three outs.
Jake Irvin finished with a 3/3 K/BB ratio and one home run allowed in 5 1/3; the Braves didn’t put him in the spotlight, but definitely gave him another bad outing. Charlie Morton was generally OK, with a 6/2 K/BB ratio and one home run allowed in 5 2/3; his turnaround from the horrific home run fest he subjected his teammates to in virtually every other start seems to be progressing. Every Braves starter except Jarred Kelenic (who was replaced by Soler, who was replaced by Adam Duvall) had at least one hit. The bullpen somehow threw 3 1⁄3 Innings with a K/BB ratio of 1/0 – the “somehow” was the Nats’ penchant for insignificant contact in this game.
With the series win in the bag, the Braves will be looking for a win tomorrow morning, with Reynaldo Lopez facing DJ Herz.
