Nick

Martinez

Sadly for Martinez, the decisive blow in this game came just after he was pulled. Griffin Jax came in to relieve him with a runner on first and one out in the sixth inning and gave up a go-ahead home run to Oneil Cruz soon thereafter. With that, the go-ahead run was charged to Martinez and he was saddled with the loss. He did well enough to dance around plenty of baserunners when he was out there and it was a bit of a miracle only one run scored before he was pulled. That is the norm for him though at this point in his career without much swing-and-miss stuff to speak of. He’s scheduled to face the Reds at home next time out.

Martinez was long gone before this one was ultimately decided in extra innings. He finished with four strikeouts and also issued three walks. He surrendered five hits, including a solo homer to Austin Wells in the second inning. The 35-year-old veteran will carry a strong 2.16 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 11/4 K/BB ratio across 16 2/3 innings into a favorable road matchup on Friday against the Pirates. He doesn’t offer enough strikeout potential to be interesting in shallow mixed leagues, but he’s a viable streaming option in deeper formats.

There were Rays fans writing Martinez off after an ugly spring, but he’s opened the regular season with back-to-back quality starts. He should be a decent mixed-league option in his home outings this season, though he has a particularly tough one coming up against the Yankees next weekend.

It’s hard to imagine a stronger season debut than this from Martinez as he managed to limit Milwaukee’s red-hot lineup to just a William Contreras homer across six frames. He struck out three and didn’t hand out a free pass. The 35-year-old veteran is a less appealing fantasy option than someone like Ian Seymour would’ve been, but he has some streaming appeal in deeper leagues. It feels like only a matter of time before he moves to the bullpen to accommodate the arrival of top pitching prospect Brody Hopkins later this year. He’ll face off against the rebuilding Twins on Sunday to cap off a two-start week.

Not only does Martinez miss pitching against the Cardinals, but he now has to face the Brewers in Milwaukee. In addition to that, he has a hamstring issue after pitching to a 14.49 ERA this spring. The Rays are downplaying the issue, but it’s hard to see Martinez lasting long in the rotation with the way Ian Seymour pitched this spring. Seymour likely should have been given a chance to start anyway, with how well he pitched at the end of last season.

Martinez did not make a good first impression with the Rays by going 0-4 with a 14.49 ERA this spring, but there still shouldn’t be any doubt about his rotation status. Martinez’s velocity was down a bit today and he went without a strikeout, but the Jays’ 43 percent hard-hit rate (10 of his 23 balls in play) isn’t going to produce this sort of massacre most nights. Since nothing here really matters until the games begin to count, let’s see how he fares against the Cardinals on Sunday before starting the Joe Boyle talk.

Martinez gave up some hard contact today, including a homer to Eli White, but it was the softer stuff that did him in; the Braves had three hits on nine hard-hit balls and went 7-for-11 on non-hard-hit balls. Atlanta’s four-run second inning started with Mike Yastrzemski perfectly placing a popup down the left field line for a double in between the left fielder and third baseman. The poor showing takes Martinez’s spring ERA to 9.90, but he’s throwing fine and he should have an easier time once the Rays get back into the Trop.

Matt Olson crushed a homer off him, but Martinez allowed no other hits today. He’s in line to open up as the Rays’ fifth starter, and he offers some fantasy potential with Tropicana Field and the strong Rays defense both working in his favor.

Martinez was signed two weeks ago to fill a spot in the Rays’ rotation, but he didn’t look great today. He posted just a 17 percent whiff rate while allowing four hard-hit balls in three innings. He was able to pound the strike zone and get ahead in the count, but he wasn’t fooling Tigers hitters. He still seems locked into a starting spot over one or both of Joe Boyle and Ian Seymour.

The Rays definitely aren’t giving Martinez that kind of money to pitch out of the pen, so assuming that everyone stays healthy, there won’t be any room in the rotation for Joe Boyle or Ian Seymour on Opening Day. Of course, it’d hardly be a surprise if someone went down. Martinez might have some fantasy potential pitching in a situation as good as Tampa Bay’s (now that the team is returning to the Trop). He had a 4.45 ERA for the Reds last season, but he should improve on that and make a contribution in WHIP.