Davis Martin holds Pirates to one run over five

After missing a couple of turns with a finger blister, Martin put together his best showing in a couple of months tonight, though since the White Sox never scored, he still couldn’t get a win. He’s 0-4 in 12 starts since opening up 9-2 in his first 13 outings. He’ll face the Pirates and probably the Cardinals next week, so those hunting wins — his luck has to change sometime, right? — could give him a try and hope for the best.

Martin landed on the injured list on August 14th with a blister issue. He has an 8.03 ERA in 24 2/3 innings in the second half and cannot be trusted for fantasy purposes.

Martin had pitched poorly of late, so it’s not much of a surprise that he was going through something. It’s possible that Erick Fedde gets some starts in Martin’s place.

Both benches cleared after Stewart pointed at Martin and indicated he was head-hunting. Martin allowed two homers -- one to Stewart and one to Eugenio Suarez -- and left with a 4-3 lead. Erick Fedde replaced Martin and allowed Stewart to score. Martin has an 8.79 ERA in his last seven starts and has allowed six homers in his last four appearances. 12-teamers can probably avoid him against the Cubs next week, assuming he avoids any discipline for the incident.

Martin’s next outing has been moved up a couple days after he threw just 23 pitches over one inning during a rain-shortened start against the Guardians on Sunday.

That’s more runs than he allowed in six starts in March and April (eight in 37 innings) or in five starts in May (seven in 30 2/3 innings). Martin opened the year 8-1 with a 2.00 ERA, but since the beginning of June, he’s 1-5 with a 6.79 ERA. His peripherals aren’t as bad as his ERA, so maybe he deserves to keep his rotation spot for now. He’s on thin ice, though. He’ll face the Guardians on Sunday.

Martin did not get off to a good start in this game. With one out in the first, he allowed a double, walk, single, and then three-run home run to cap off a four-run first inning for the Yankees. He righted the ship after that, though, with five scoreless frames. That helped open the door for what became a thrilling comeback win for the White Sox. Back to Martin, his command came back to him after that rough first inning and the Yankees never challenged him after it. It’s been a rough few months relative to his outstanding April and May, but this was a potential step in the right direction. He’s scheduled for a two-start week coming up, first against the Red Sox in Fenway and then the Guardians back at home.

Martin breezed through the first five innings here and it seemed like he was on his way to putting his recent cold stretch behind him. Then, he lost it in the sixth inning. Starting the frame with just 75 pitches and having allowed only four base runners to that point, he gave up three hits, hit a batter, was pulled, and all of the runners reliever Bryan Hudson inherited came around to score. Martin threw a first-pitch ball to all four batters that inning and only threw a first-pitch strike to seven of the 23 batters he faced in this game. His star is fading fast with a 5.82 ERA since June 1st and it’s difficult to trust him moving forward. Next up is a meeting with the Yankees at home.

Martin, who opened up 9-2 through 13 turns, is now winless in his last six starts, even though he’s pitched very well in three of those games. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five today. He’ll pitch at home against Houston next Friday.

The White Sox will return from the break with their top three starters going. This will also set up Erick Fedde for a two-start week against Texas and Houston the following week.