ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jake Irvin pitched six effective innings, CJ Abrams hit a leadoff homer and the Washington Nationals beat Tampa Bay Rays 8-1 on Saturday, stopping a four-game skid.
Irvin (6-6) allowed one hit — Brandon Lowe's first-inning homer — struck out five and walked three. The right-hander has permitted two earned runs or fewer in 12 of his last 15 starts.
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Tampa Bay Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder, right, talks on the mound with shortstop Taylor Walls, left, catcher Ben Rortvedt, second from left, and starter Aaron Civale, third from left, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jake Irvin pitched six effective innings, CJ Abrams hit a leadoff homer and the Washington Nationals beat Tampa Bay Rays 8-1 on Saturday, stopping a four-game skid.
Washington Nationals' Jesse Winkler, right, congratulates CJ Abrams, left, after Abrams' solo home run off Tampa Bay Rays starter Aaron Civale during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Washington Nationals' Luis Garcia Jr. (2) congratulates CJ Abrams, center, in the dugout after Abrams' solo home run off Tampa Bay Rays starter Aaron Civale during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Tampa Bay Rays teammates celebrate with Brandon Lowe, second from right, when he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run off Washington Nationals starter Jake Irvin during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Washington Nationals first baseman Joey Meneses, left, reaches for a throw to put out Tampa Bay Rays' Isaac Paredes, right, during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Uumpire Dan Bellino, left, signals a foul ball as Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz waits for a pop fly that got stuck in the catwalk during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Washington Nationals starter Jake Irvin pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Tampa Bay Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder, right, talks on the mound with shortstop Taylor Walls, left, catcher Ben Rortvedt, second from left, and starter Aaron Civale, third from left, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
“Talk a lot about it, but just trying to keep us in games and the consistency is part of that,” Irvin said. “If I can keep us in it every fifth day, putting us in line for wins, that's my job and been pleased with the results.”
Irvin has gone six innings in six of his last seven starts.
“He was tough,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We couldn't get anything going off of him.”
Derek Law, Hunter Harvey, and Kyle Finnegan each got three outs for the Nationals, completing a two-hitter.
Abrams connected for his third leadoff homer this season. He also hit an RBI double off Shawn Armstrong during Washington's six-run seventh.
Harold Ramírez, who was released by Tampa Bay on June 13 and signed with Washington two days later, hit a two-run triple during the seventh in his first game against his former team. It was his first triple since Aug. 14, and his seventh overall in 515 career games.
The Rays dropped back under .500 at 41-42. Tampa Bay hasn't been over .500 since May 21.
Yandy Díaz went 0 for 4, ending his Tampa Bay-record 20-game hitting streak. He hit a 109-mph liner to first in the eighth.
The Nationals took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on some nifty baserunning by Luis García Jr. He dashed home on an Aaron Civale (2-6) wild pitch that ended up in front of the plate.
“Awesome,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “He actually got a good secondary lead and broke right away. It was a big play for us.”
Right after hitting what should have been a catchable foul ball that got stuck on an overhanging catwalk, Lowe tied it at 1 with his sixth homer. He had been limited to one pinch-hit at-bat since breaking his right pinky toe on June 22.
Civale extended his winless start streak to 14. The right-hander issued four walks while allowing two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
“Felt like he had to grind through that outing,” Cash said. "Probably didn't have his best stuff."
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: OF Jesse Winker, who left Friday’s game in the first inning after bruising his knee while stumbling and falling hard to the ground making a catch, started and hit an RBI single in the seventh.
UP NEXT
Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (1-7, 5.46 ERA) and Rays RHP Taj Bradley (2-4, 3.81 ERA) are Sunday's starters.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Richie Palacios, left, looks away as Washington Nationals' Luis Garcia Jr. (2) celebrates on second with a double during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Washington Nationals' Jesse Winkler, right, congratulates CJ Abrams, left, after Abrams' solo home run off Tampa Bay Rays starter Aaron Civale during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Washington Nationals' Luis Garcia Jr. (2) congratulates CJ Abrams, center, in the dugout after Abrams' solo home run off Tampa Bay Rays starter Aaron Civale during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Tampa Bay Rays teammates celebrate with Brandon Lowe, second from right, when he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run off Washington Nationals starter Jake Irvin during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Washington Nationals first baseman Joey Meneses, left, reaches for a throw to put out Tampa Bay Rays' Isaac Paredes, right, during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Uumpire Dan Bellino, left, signals a foul ball as Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz waits for a pop fly that got stuck in the catwalk during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Washington Nationals starter Jake Irvin pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
Tampa Bay Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder, right, talks on the mound with shortstop Taylor Walls, left, catcher Ben Rortvedt, second from left, and starter Aaron Civale, third from left, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl began pounding the southeast Caribbean on Monday as a powerful Category 4 storm after becoming the earliest storm of that strength to form in the Atlantic, fueled by record warm waters.
The storm was expected to make landfall in the Windward Islands late Monday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation,” the center said. “Take action now to protect your life!”
Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, Grenada, Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as thousands of people hunkered down in homes and shelters. The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.
“It’s going to be terrible,” Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said ahead of the storm and urged people to stay indoors “and wait this monster out.”
Beryl was located 50 miles (75 kilometers) east of Grenada on Monday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) per hour, and was moving west-northwest at 20 mph (31 kph). It was a compact storm, with hurricane-force winds extending 35 miles (55 kilometers) from its center.
The storm had not made landfall yet, but officials in Barbados already received more than a dozen reports of roof damage, fallen trees and downed electric posts across the island, said Kerry Hinds, emergency management director.
Once Beryl passes, drones will assess damage and speed up response, said Wilfred Abrahams, minister of home affairs and information. Before, it used to take two hours to receive information as crews fanned out across the island, versus seven minutes with drones, he noted.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for St. Lucia, Martinique and Trinidad. A tropical storm watch was issued for Haiti’s entire southern coast, and from Punta Palenque in the Dominican Republic west to the border with Haiti.
Forecasters warned of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 9 feet (3 meters) in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15 centimeters) of rain for Barbados and nearby islands and possibly 10 inches in some areas (25 centimeters), especially in Grenada and the Grenadines.
“This is a very dangerous situation,” warned the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The storm was expected to weaken slightly over the Caribbean Sea on a path that would take it just south of Jamaica and later toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 1.
“It should be emphasized that Beryl is forecast to remain a significant hurricane during its entire trek across the Caribbean region,” the National Hurricane Center said.
Officials in some southeast Caribbean islands announced controlled shutdowns of electricity and warned of water outages ahead of the storm, urging people to seek shelter. They warned of landslides and flash flooding as they shuttered schools, airports and government offices.
Hours before the storm, Barbadian Michael Beckles said he feared the worst for his island despite witnessing how people were taking it seriously.
“As prepared as we can try to be, there are a lot of things that we can’t control,” he said. “Electricity probably will go. We’ll have issues with water. There are a lot of houses that are not ready for a storm like this.”
Beryl strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in just 42 hours — a feat accomplished only six other times in Atlantic hurricane history, and with Sept. 1 as the earliest date, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.
It also was the earliest Category 4 Atlantic hurricane on record, besting Hurricane Dennis, which became a Category 4 storm on July 8, 2005.
“This is a dangerous hurricane for the Windward Islands," said hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry, who warned that when Beryl comes ashore, “it’s going to be a very serious situation.”
Beryl amassed its strength from record warm waters that are hotter now than they would be at the peak of hurricane season in September, he said.
Beryl also marked the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.
Among those weathering the storm was Jaswinderpal Parmar of Fresno, California, who had traveled to Barbados for Saturday’s Twenty20 World Cup final, cricket’s biggest event. He and his family were now stuck there with scores of other fans, their flights canceled on Sunday.
He said by phone that it's the first time he has experienced a hurricane, with heavy rain starting at midnight. He and his family have been praying, as well as taking calls from concerned friends and family as far away as India.
“We couldn’t sleep last night,” Parmar, 47, said. “We were keeping an eye on it.”
Even as Beryl bore down on the southeast Caribbean, government officials warned about a cluster of thunderstorms mimicking the hurricane’s path that have a 70% chance of becoming a tropical depression.
“There’s always a concern when you have back-to-back storms,” Lowry said. “If two storms move over the same area or nearby, the first storm weakens the infrastructure, so the secondary system doesn’t need to be as strong to have serious impacts.”
Beryl is the second named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northeast Mexico and killed four people.
On Sunday night, a tropical depression near the eastern Mexico coastal city of Veracruz briefly strengthened into Tropical Storm Chris, the third named storm of the season. It weakened on Monday and was downgraded back to a tropical depression forecast to move inland. The National Hurricane Center early Monday reported heavy rainfall and flooding, with the possibility of mudslides, before the storm dissipates.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season is likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.
An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.
Associated Press videographer Kofi Jones in Bridgetown, Barbados, contributed to this report.
A resident carries wood to cover his house's windows in preparation for Hurricane Beryl, in Bridgetown, Barbados, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People disassemble a beach bar's awning in preparation for Hurricane Beryl, in Bridgetown, Barbados, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People walk off the beach after attending a religious gathering in Bridgetown, Barbados, Sunday, June 30, 2024. Hurricane Beryl strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it approaches the southeast Caribbean. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Sailboats line up to enter a marina ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Beryl in Speightstown, Barbados, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
Hurricane Beryl's winds batter Carlisle Bay in Bridgetown, Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
Hurricane Beryl's winds batter Carlisle Bay in Bridgetown, Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
