Martinez is only starting games because the Cincinnati Reds starting staff has hemorraghed from injuries all season.
And yet there he was on the mound unfurling a pitching masterpiece — seven innings, no runs, two hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.
He had to be at his very best because his teammates produced only one run, but enough for a 1-0 victory over the Braves.
In his previous start, he used up a season-high 109 pitches, so his fastball was down two or three miles per hour.
No matter. He mesmerized the Braves with an assortment of change-ups and breaking pitches and there wasn’t a hard-hit ball hit against him all night.
And an incredible statistic was attached to this performance. He faced 24 batters and threw a first-pitch strike to 23.
The Reds faced 40-year-old 17-year veteran Charlie Morton and he, too, was using all the guile and deception he could muster, mostly with change-ups.
Morton went 6 2/3 innings and gave up one run and six hits while striking out seven.
Cincinnati’s only run came via one bloop hit in the second inning. Morton opened the second by hitting TJ Friedl with a pitch. On the next pitch Ty France lobbed one just over first baseman Matt Olson’s glove and the ball landed near the chalk and kicked right.
By the time right fielder Jorge Soler ran 200 feet in from his defensive spot, Friedl ran the 270 feet from first to home with the game’s only run.
So the Reds made a one-stop visit to Atlanta to play one game, a make-up of a game rained out in late July. The Reds won the first two of that series, 4-1 ands 9-4, so Monday’s win gave them a three-game sweep.
And it was a rare one-run win, pushing Cincinnati’s one-run record to 14-26. The Braves, though, are not much better at 16-22.
This one clearly belonged to Martinez, who never stops moving back-and-forth on the rubber before he delivers. And he never sits down between innings and paces from one end of the dugout to the other as if on an Easter egg hunt.
As he did a post-game interview with Bally Sports Ohio, he rocked back and forth the entire time.
“I felt good, obviously, and I thought we had a great game plan,” he said. “(Catcher) Tyler Stephenson did a great job calling pitches, realizing what they were trying to do. We would go to Plan B, then back to Plan A.”
Plan A was to throw those 23 first-pitch strikes to 24 hitters and he made it sound as if they were no big deal
“Just pound the zone early and challenge the guys, really,” he said. “That’s been my mentality all year and today it showed.”
Martinez started the season in the bullpen with a spot start mixed in now and then. But when the Reds lost starters Graham Ashcraft, Andrew Abbott, Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo, Martinez was dropped into the rotation.
It has been a revelation.
On Aug. 10 in Milwaukee, he shut down the Brewers on no runs and one hit over seven innings with no walks and seven strikeouts, but the Reds lost that one, 1-0.
This one was better.
He gave up a two-out walk to Marcell Ozuna and a single to Matt Olson in the first, but Wright State University product Sean Murphy grounded to third.
He then retired 17 straight, all seeing first-pitch strikes, before Olson beat an infield hit to third base with one out in the seventh.
Fernando Cruz pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts. Closer Alex Diaz, appearing for the fourth time in five games, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 27th save.
The pieced-together Reds pitching staff has given up one run over the last 20 innings.
With one out in the fourth Olson shot one between first and second. First baseman Ty France flopped on his stomach to make an oh-wow stop and tossed to Martinez for the out.
Martinez then did a celebratory jig, something he does whenever a teammaate makes an above-and-beyond defensive play.
“When Ty made that play I was yelling and the guys in their dugout were on me and I said, ‘That was a great play, man,’” he said. “I’ve always had it in me, but early in my career I didn’t show it.
“When I played in Japan (four years from 2018 through 2021) I decided I was going to play with a lot of emotion, positive emotion,” he added. “As soon as I let go of the ball, I turn into a fan and when somebody makes a great play I get jacked up.”
Of him and the Reds making one run stand up for a win, Martinez said, “I’m not surprised. I think we have a good team. We’re playing with a lot of pride right now.”
The Reds take that pride to St. Louis for the start of a three-game series Tuesday in St. Louis, then complete the 10-game trip in 10 days with three in Minnesota.
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