Jake Irvin did not allow a hit in five innings for the Washington Nationals, enough to defeat the Atlanta Braves, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon.
Another dazzling pitching performance fueled the Washington Nationals for the second straight night, this time enough to lift them over the Atlanta Braves to take a 2-0 win.
Jake Irvin exited the game without allowing a hit through the first five innings, tossing seven strikeouts on 80 pitches to handoff a hopeful combined no-hitter performance that ended in the seventh inning.
Yet the offense would do just enough, starting off with Dylan Crews after he opened the scoring with a 396 foot home run over the left field wall in the fourth inning, marking his first home run since being called up earlier this week. Crews took an 83 mph slider on an 0-2 count to break the deadlock that the Nationals would add to later.
Jorbit Vivas would then open the fifth inning with a leadoff 364 foot home run into right field, pushing the Nationals ahead 2-0.
With Brad Lord replacing Irvin in the sixth inning, Atlanta would record its first hit after giving up a leadoff single into center in the seventh inning. A Braves challenge would then push a runner to second on a fielder's choice, but Lord would record three straight outs with some emotion coming off the mound for the inning-ending strikeout.
Atlanta would put a runner on in the bottom of the eighth inning in hopes of mounting a late comeback, but it wouldn't materialize into anything after a line out then strikeout ended the inning.
Richard Lovelady would come out to record his fourth save of the season, just one day after opening for Miles Mikolas.
Keibert Ruiz also finished 1-for-3 to hit safely in the seventh consecutive game this season, including an extra base hit in six of his last seven while leading all MLB catchers with 12 doubles in 2026. Jorbit Vivas, meanwhile, notched his first multi-hit game since the 13-2 win back on March 30 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Nationals will once again enter Sunday with a chance to get back to .500 with hopes of securing the second consecutive road series win and sixth of the season. First pitch is set for 4:10 PM on Sunday with Foster Griffin set to take the mound.
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