WASHINGTON -- The Nationals didn’t get the bullpen-day script they wanted on Tuesday, and that set the stage for a much bigger move the next night.
After Jake Irvin was chased after just 3 1/3 innings in an 8-6 loss to the Cubs, Washington is turning to No. 8 prospect Jackson Kent to make his Major League debut and start Wednesday night at Nationals Park. The 23-year-old left-hander is coming up from Triple-A Rochester, where he’s put together a 9-4 record and a 3.72 ERA across 20 starts between Triple-A and Double-A this season. The Nationals drafted him in the fourth round in 2024 out of Arizona.
No corresponding roster move was announced, though Miles Mikolas was already saying goodbye to teammates in the clubhouse after the game.
Blake Butera said of Kent, “Obviously, what he’s done has jumped off the page to a lot of people. I’m excited to see him get an opportunity up here tomorrow.”
Tuesday’s loss came with an early strain on the staff. Irvin needed 88 pitches to get through only 3 1/3 innings, forcing the Nationals to lean on four relievers, including Mikolas arriving via the bullpen cart. Tom Cosgrove covered two-thirds of an inning, Max Kranick worked one, Orlando Ribalta handled one and Mikolas gave Washington three innings.
“Frustrating, for sure,” Irvin said after the game. “Any time you come out with a loss, it stinks.”
Irvin was charged with five runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out four. Pete Crow-Armstrong did the biggest damage, launching a Statcast-projected 437-foot shot into the upper deck in a nine-pitch battle.
The right-hander said the Cubs made him work for everything. He threw his four-seam fastball nearly half the time, mixing in a sweeper at 19%, a sinker at 17%, a curveball at 8%, a changeup at 6% and a cutter at 6%.
“[The Cubs] are a good offense and put together good at-bats,” said Irvin. “But at the end of the day, I think when breaking ball shapes and the consistency of the breaking ball isn’t there, it makes the at-bats a little bit easier for them. The pitches were pretty dang good, but when you only have to honor a fastball, it’s a little bit different.”
The outing was the most pitches thrown by a Nationals pitcher in fewer than four innings since MacKenzie Gore needed 102 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings against the Orioles on May 16, 2025.
It also fit a troubling pattern for Irvin this season. He threw 86 pitches in three innings at Cincinnati on May 13, when he allowed four hits, six runs and four walks while striking out four. On April 4 against the Dodgers, he used 85 pitches over four innings, giving up eight hits, six runs and two walks with four strikeouts.
His best start of the year was cut short by injury. On May 23 in Atlanta, Irvin fired five hitless innings before leaving with what became a right shoulder strain. He spent May 24 to July 30 on the injured list and has made three starts since returning.
Butera said the Cubs’ approach was a big reason the pitch count climbed.
“I think there's been a lot of times where he's been able to throw pretty similarly to the way he did tonight and limit damage a little bit better and be a little more efficient with his pitches,” Butera said. “But credit the Cubs’ lineup.
They didn't chase. Every pitch that was just off the plate, it felt like they took for a ball.
They didn't help his cause by any means, and that wore on Jake, of course. He had to throw a ton of pitches.”
Washington had been mindful of its bullpen usage entering the stretch ahead, but Tuesday’s game still pushed the group harder than intended. Now the club will ask Kent to step into the rotation and help stabilize things after an exhausting night for the staff.
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The Nationals minor league calendar keeps turning, and there is plenty for fans to monitor across the system in the days ahead. Rochester, Harrisburg, Wilmington, Fredericksburg and the DSL Nationals all have new games and pitching matchups on the docket, giving the organization a fresh batch of innings to sort through as the season rolls on. Alongside the schedule updates, recent performances have offered a few bright spots, including the DSL Nationals 4-3 win over the DSL Angels and Coy James earning Carolina League Player of the Week honors.
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The Nationals farm system has started to look a little healthier lately, and Devin Fitz-Gerald has been a big reason why. Acquired in the MacKenzie Gore trade, the 2024 fifth-round shortstop has moved steadily through Washingtons minors and earned a promotion to Double-A Harrisburg after playing well at High-A Wilmington, a sign that the organizations infield depth is producing more than just hope.
Fitz-Gerald is part of a broader wave of movement that has given the Nationals something to point to in the lower levels. Catcher Maxwell Romero Jr. has been bumped to Triple-A Rochester, while center fielder Yeremy Cabrera also showed real development at Wilmington, and those names together suggest Washington is finally seeing some traction from the kind of prospect pipeline it has needed to rebuild around. [Read more 🡒]