Nationals right-hander Jake Irvin on 15-day injured list with ‘best news’ of shoulder strain

ATLANTA (AP) — Washington Nationals right-hander Jake Irvin was placed on the 15-day injured list on Sunday with a right shoulder strain, one day after he threw five hitless innings in a 2-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.

Irvin and Nationals manager Drew Butera said the diagnosis of a strain was good news after Irvin left Saturday’s game with soreness in the shoulder. Irvin acknowledged he has experienced discomfort before but “not like I did yesterday.”

“Yeah, definitely positive,” Irvin said Sunday of learning an MRI revealed nothing more serious than a strain. “Just thinking positive about it all together, you know. I think it was the best news that we could have heard. So I’m excited to get after it and see what this next 15 days looks like.”

The Nationals recalled left-hander PJ Poulin from Triple-A Rochester. Poulin will pitch in relief and Butera said he hasn’t decided who will fill in for Irvin in the rotation.

Irvin was impressive in his first win in almost two months before feeling the discomfort in his shoulder. Irvin (2-4) said he felt tightness in the shoulder in the fifth inning and felt more soreness after throwing one warmup pitch before the the sixth.

“I think just with the MRI results, it looks like this is something that we caught probably as quickly as we could have,” Butera said. “So I’m glad he did say something. I know the competitor he is. He didn’t want to come out of the game, obviously, with a no-hitter going. But I think the fact that he brought it up and didn’t try to pitch through it may have saved him and saved us a little bit.”

Irvin combined with two relievers on a one-hitter in the win.

Poulin is 3-0 with a 3.32 ERA in 23 games, including five starts. He has two saves. He was optioned to Rochester on Wednesday when reliever Clayton Beeter returned from the IL.

“It’s great having P. J. back,” Butera said. “Another lefty out of the bullpen that was valuable for us before we had to make the tough decision to send him to Triple A. So not thrilled that Jake has gone to IL, but also pretty happy to get PJ back with us.”

Butera said he expects Irvin to throw again on Tuesday and added “we plan on him feeling good.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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