Irvin earns 1st home win of '25 in dominant fashion with 8 scoreless innings

WASHINGTON – Right-hander Jake Irvin had earned all of his wins this season on the road, his first ‘W’ at Nationals Park still evading him after 10 starts.

On Saturday, Irvin got his first home win of 2025 in dominating fashion and inched closer to the milestone of a complete game.

Irvin pitched eight scoreless innings in the Nationals’ 3-0 victory over the Giants. He recorded seven strikeouts, allowed three hits and issued two walks on an efficient 96 pitches.

“I was trying my hardest not to think of it, but in the seventh, I told [pitching strategist Sean] Doolittle we were going to do it,” Irvin said. “So I thought we were going to do it.

“At the end of the day, the only thoughts really going through the head, though, were to go pitch to pitch and just keep making guys earn it. Keibert [Ruiz] was calling a great game, we were on the same page all day long, and I just wanted to keep executing.”

Manager Dave Martinez weighed keeping Irvin in for the ninth inning, but a two-out walk to Mike Yastrzemski in the eighth led to Martinez’s decision to turn to Jorge López for the save in the ninth. (Closer Kyle Finnegan was unavailable on Saturday because of right arm fatigue.)

“Possibly,” Martinez said of Irvin’s chance at pitching the ninth. “A couple balls started getting up. So that only tells me he’s kind of getting a little bit fatigued. But man, what a performance. He was a hell of a lawyer, I can tell you that. He tried to go back out in the ninth, and I’m a better judge.”

Irvin reached 95.9 mph on his fastball, and it averaged 92.1 mph on the afternoon (vs. his 91.9 mph season average). He attributed it to having a full week’s rest after last pitching May 17 in Baltimore.

"I think he was just pounding the zone and was able to just locate his fastball,” said San Francisco third baseman Matt Chapman. “I think he came right after us, and we weren’t able to really get anything going off him. He pitched well."

Irvin was the driving force behind a game time of one hour and 52 minutes, the second-fastest Major League game this season; the Cardinals and Royals played in one hour and 49 minutes on May 17. Irvin retired the side on just five pitches in the sixth inning and four pitches in the seventh inning.

“The biggest thing for him is, he stays in the moment,” Martinez said. “He understands what he needs to do. He doesn’t panic. He makes pitches when he has to. At any given moment, he could drop a curveball for a strike, whether it’s 1-0, 2-0.

“So he’s very confident in what he’s trying to do and how he wants to pitch to hitters. That combination is going to work. Even though some of his stuff wasn’t great at times, he knows how to get outs. And that’s what makes him who he is.”

Irvin completed eight innings once before on July 4, 2024, against the Mets. Saturday was his sixth quality start of the season. He threw 7 1/3 frames vs. the Mets on April 25.

“I’m going to stay in the moment, and when it comes, it comes,” Irvin said regarding a complete game. “But at the end of the day, we go out there, we go pitch to pitch.”

Irvin earned his first home win since Sept. 11, 2024, against the Braves. His ERA at Nationals Park (3.19) is lower than it is on the road (3.69).

“It was sweet,” Irvin said of a home victory. “Nats Park was packed. Fans came out, you can feel that energy, you can really feel that energy. We fed off of it.”