Nick Martinez Gets By With A Little Help From His Friends

 

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Dateline: 1,209 Kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico

With apologies to the Beatles, Nick Martinez got a lot of help from his friends against the St. Louis Cardinals. The 3-1 win over the Arch Rivals was the Reds fifth in a row.

To be sure the Cardinals scored a run in the first inning but the sun, not left fielder Gavin Lux was to blame.

Lars Nootbaar started the game with a double. Martinez got two outs but at 6:40 pm the sun is bright and directly in the fielder's eye. Nolan Arenado doubled into the twilight to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead. 

The Reds made up for the sun's error with three double plays and a sliding catch in center field by TJ Friedl against Nolan Gorman in the fourth inning. Jose Trevino turned an Masyn Winn bunt into a force at third, setting up Matt McLain's fine play that turned a Nootbaar hot smash into one of the double plays.

"I told Gavin when he hit it, I saw he didn't have it but I thought it didn't matter it was a home run. I thought it was going to be 2-0, I was already thinking about my next pitch."

What did Lux see or not see?

"Nick through great outside of my sun ball. The bullpen was nails as it kind of has been," Lux said. "When I'm just in compete mode and not thinking about mechanics and getting every day at bats, that's kind of how I've been. I just kind of take my chances early if I don't get my pitch, I'm not afraid to go to two strikes. I try to grind them out and make them throw pitches."

"We turned a couple really nice double plays," manager Terry Francona said. "It was really exciting. McLain's had a rough stretch swinging the bat. He played a really good second base tonight. The ball Nootbaar hit. Trevino's play was huge. That changes the whole game."

St. Louis starting pitcher Andre Pallante historically pitches well against the Reds. In his five career starts, the most starts against any team. He came into his sixth encounter with a 5-1 record, including a winning relief appearance and a 1.83 ERA.

Jose Trevino tied the game with his second home run of the season.

Gavin Lux, who had three hits, scored on a triple by Noelvi Marte in the fourth inning. Austin Hays walked in the sixth and scored on Lux' second double of the game.

Martinez pitched six innings, allowing one run on five hits and two walks. He struck out three.

"I thought he did a really nice job. There were a couple innings there where he kind of lost the strike zone but he got it back," Francona said. "We turned a couple nice double plays behind him. He got us to the point in the game that I thought, let's give Ashcraft a clean inning."

More friends were pitching behind him. Graham Ashcraft struck out the side in the seventh inning. Tony Santillan posted a scoreless eighth.

"They played phenomenal defense behind me," Martinez said. "I was jacked up. I had some traffic the whole game. Trevie (Jose Trevino) pushed me through it. Aschcraft's slider was just disgusting."

Emilio Pagan came on in the ninth to earn his eighth save in nine chances. 

Notes:

Jake Fraley was in the original lineup but was scratched in favor of Blake Dun. Fraley has a contusion on his quad. "He hit his quad from fouling the ball off it in Colorado, yesterday. He did some running but it swelled up on him. We didn't want it to get worse so we made the change," Francona explained.

Matt Mclain singled to right to snap the longest hitless streak of his career at 0-for-21.