Nationals pitchers have to shoulder the load for undermanned lineup

MIAMI — For much of this year, the Nationals’ vaunted offense has led the charge, spurring a surprisingly competitive season for a Washington team in the infancy of its rebuild.

No deficit seemed insurmountable because of how potent the offense was. But that is a relic of the first half of the season, when Luis García Jr. and Curtis Mead manned the corners of the infield and All-Stars CJ Abrams and James Wood were incendiary at the plate.

Now? Three runs seem like a gargantuan task for this lineup. Particularly against Marlins ace Eury Perez, one of the preeminent young pitchers in the game, the Nationals were fighting uphill Saturday.

“At the end of the day, we need our pitchers to pitch well, and there’s been a large part of this season where it’s been the reverse, right?” manager Blake Butera said pregame. “Where our hitters maybe need to feel like they need to score 10, 12, 14 runs a game to win. Now it’s on the pitchers to keep them off the board as much as possible and our hitters to find a way to score enough runs to win.”

Jake Irvin didn’t have his best outing, but he gave the Nationals length (six innings). His four runs allowed were too much for the Nationals to overcome in Saturday’s 4-2 loss. Irvin allowed a walk, a double and a single in the first inning to put the Nationals (61-70) behind 2-0. But he closed the door with an inning-ending double play.

In the second, Irvin left a fastball near the heart of the strike zone for a solo shot by Heriberto Hernández but rebounded to induce two groundouts before allowing Esteury Ruiz to reach base on a hit by pitch. Xavier Edwards flied out to end the inning. Irvin allowed his fourth run in the fourth on Jakob Marsee’s homer.

Butera let Irvin empty the tank, and the pitcher rewarded the faith by going six innings, allowing six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

“Feel like I’ve given us a chance to win but haven’t put us in the driver’s seat,” Irvin said of his recent starts. “So definitely frustrating.”

Irvin said he battled Saturday and, as a starter, “it’s your job if you get punched early to just stay on your feet and keep going.”

Given the depleted state of the Nationals’ offense, the pitching staff has little room for error. The three early runs put the Nationals in a hole. Although Irvin’s giving the team length, they need him to minimize the damage.

“He’s almost always able to get us through five or six innings, just need to make those four runs one or two runs,” Butera said.

Against the Mets, Irvin allowed three runs in the fourth inning to flip the game in New York’s favor. Against the Cubs on Aug. 11, he allowed five runs over 3 1/3 innings.

Two-strike execution evaded Irvin — and has been an issue for him since returning from the injured list. In his Aug. 11 start against the Cubs, he allowed a .925 OPS when he got into two-strike counts. The first-inning double and walk came on two-strike counts against the Marlins.

As the offense goes through a lull, the Nationals’ pitching staff has to lift up the team. Irvin’s performance in a vacuum wasn’t poor, but it’s indicative of the precarious position the team finds itself in with most of the lineup either scuffling or being asked to step into larger roles.

“As a staff, we want to pick those guys up because of what they they’ve done for us all year,” Irvin said. “So as a group, as a collective, we’ve really been taking pride on picking them up, keeping us in games. I wouldn’t say there’s an added pressure, but the love that everybody has for each other in this locker room, I think there’s just a will to want to go out there and give us as much of a chance as we can.”

José Tena, Dylan Crews and Andrew Pinckney were the only Nationals to record base hits. Brady House and Abimelec Ortiz drew walks, and the team had only two opportunities with runners in scoring position (1-for-2).

The Nationals surprised the league with their explosive offense. But there’s no compensating for the absence of Wood and Abrams, who have 59 of the team’s 183 homers. Without their power, the Nationals will have to assume a different offensive identity.

“It’s a different-looking lineup right now. It’s a different type of offense,” Butera said. “We’re gonna have to walk. We have to get on base. We have to steal bases. We’re going to have to be able to go first to third. We have to score on balls in the gap.”

This article has been updated.