Dave Roberts Credits Nationals Starter Jake Irvin For Shutting Down Dodgers Offense

The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped their series to the Washington Nationals in the rubber match on Wednesday as they were shut out for the first time in 2024, losing 2-0.

Jake Irvin made the start for Washington, and he turned in a gem. The right-hander pitched six shutout innings, giving up just for hits and one walk while striking out six.

“I think today you’ve got to give Irvin a lot of credit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We haven’t seen him before, he’s got a lively fastball and it played up in the zone.

“Against the right-handed hitters he was sort of running it in on us with a little breaking ball. Outside of Shohei, we really didn’t have an answer for him. Then they get to their two leverage guys in the ‘pen, and they’ve been lights-out all year.”

The Dodgers have been in a rough patch recently, losing seven of their last 12 games, including five of the previous seven. During those four series, the offense is averaging just about four runs per game while hitting .244.

The bottom of the Dodgers lineup has been a major issue, which prompted the callup of Andy Pages, but they have also not received the expected level of production from Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani has hit well overall, but he has struggled with runners in scoring position to begin the year, which has cost the Dodgers numerous runs, and it’s something they want to address.

The Dodgers are likely going to turn their slump around soon as baseball is a game of ebbs and flows, but when that happens remains to be seen.

Dave Roberts wants Dodgers to remain steadfast

Even with their slump, the Dodgers still lead the National League West, and Roberts wants them to remember it’s a long season, so not everything will always be going well.

“Remain steadfast,” Roberts said. “I think that’s the thing. It’s a long season. And I think that you have to kind of trust the process of what you’re doing, and the people that you’re with and working with. And I think we do that as well as anybody. We don’t really ride waves like a lot of other teams do.”