Washington Nationals shut out the Mets, 1-0 on Fourth of July

Washington D.C. - The Washington Nationals finished their week-long series against the New York Mets with a 1-0 shutout thanks to a Jesse Winker home run in the bottom of the eighth and a great performance by RHP Jake Irvin.

The Nationals are now 41-46, have improved their at-home record to 19-21, and are 2-2 during the month of July. Next up, the Nationals will host the St. Louis Cardinals starting tomorrow evening. [More on that later]. Additionally, the Nationals are now 10-9 on July 4th since 2005, and since the 11:05 a.m. tradition began in 2012, the Nationals are 6-6 on the Fourth of July.

RHP Jake Irvin had a great performance. He pitched a career-high 8.0 innings and allowed only one hit and a walk. Irvin struck out eight, threw 99 pitches, 70 strikes, and faced 26 batters. Irvin now has a 7-6 record and a 2.80 ERA.

Irvin has pitched three games this season for 6.0 innings or more while allowing one hit or less, matching Max Scherzer's performance in 2015. Irvin ranks 5th in the National League in ERA with 2.80, sixth in WHIP with 1.00, and sixth in opponent’s batting average with .212. Additionally, over Irvin’s last six starts, he has a 1.70 ERA with seven earned runs and 34 strikeouts over 37.0 innings.

RHP Darek Law got his first save of the 2024 season. Law retired the side with only nine pitches as he struck out Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo at the top of the ninth and got Francisco Lindor to ground out.

The only hit that the Mets got off Irvin happened in the top of the third when Jeff McNeil singled on a ground ball to center field, however, Irvin struck out Franciso Lindor and then Brandon Nimmo to end the inning.

The Nationals only were able to get five hits and left seven base runners throughout the game.

James Wood finished the game 1-for-2 with a walk. He has reached base in each of his first four big league appearances and is hitting .308 (4-for-13) with an RBI, a stolen base, and a run scored.

Jesse Winker’s go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the eighth was his fifth pitch-hit home run of his career. Last, Lane Thomas went 1-for-3, stole two bases, and has hit safely in 11 of his last 14 games. Thomas has hit for a .259 batting average (15-for-58) with five doubles, two triples, a home run, 12 RBI, five walks, three stolen bases, and has scored 11 runs.

In other news, as we reported, the Washington Nationals promoted Jarlin Susana to the the Wilimington Blue Rocks from the Fredericksburg Nationals.

Susana held the Delmarva Shorebirds to two hits in five scoreless innings on Wednesday, which turned into a 4-3 Fredericksburg Nationals win. The FredNats have Susana on an innings restriction because he’s gone exactly five innings in each of his last seven starts.

Tomorrow's pitching matchup

Tomorrow, the Nationals will kick off a weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals and send LHP Patrick Corbin to the mound. Corbin has a record of 1-8 with a 5.49 ERA.

Patrick Corbin has pitched to a 3.47 ERA (9 ER/23.1 IP) over his last four starts. Corbin is 2-2 with a 3.64 in eight career starts against the Cardinals.

The Cardinals will send RHP Sonny Gray to the mound with a 9-5 record and a 2.98 ERA. Gray had his shortest start as a member of the Cardinals with 4.1 innings while tossing 92 pitches. Allowed a season-high six runs (3 ER) on seven hits with eight strikeouts. Gray left the game trailing 3-1 before the Reds completed a six-run 5th inning en route to a 9-4 win in his last appearance.

Gray will make his 8th career start vs. the Nationals and first as a member of the Cardinals. Last faced the Nats as a member of the Reds on Sept. 24, 2021. In a no decision, the Reds walked the Nationals off in 11 innings, 8-7, as Aristides Aquino singled home TJ Friedl.

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