Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Graham Ashcraft, Rhett Lowder, Nick Martinez, Julian Aguiar or a mystery man?
The 2024 season began with Greene, Lodolo, Abbott, Ashcraft and Frankie Montas in the rotation. The first four landed on the injured list and Montas was traded.
That left it open for Lowder and Aguiar to arrive early from the minors and Martinez to step in from the bullpen.
And Lowder and Martinez have been magnificent, stoutly stating that they belong in the rotation.
With each start, Martinez gets better and better and Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates he was at his absolute best during a Reds 8-3 victory.
It was another Nick at Nite performance.
In six innings, he gave up no runs, two hits, walked none and struck out a career-best nine.
He has won his last four starts and given up two runs over 24 2/3 innings, baffling hitters with a disappearing change-up while compiling a 0.71 earned run average over those four starts. Five of his nine strikeouts came on the change-up.
And he doesn’t mess around. After throwing 23 first-pitch strikes to the first 24 Atlanta hitters two starts ago, he threw 10 first-pitch strikes Friday to the first 10 Pirates.
For the game he threw 78 pitches, 57 for strikes. The only baserunners came on a leadoff double in the third on a misjudged line drive by left fielder Will Benson hit by Rowdy Tellez and a leadoff single by Joey Bart in the fifth.
And offensively, the Reds did what they should do against Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller, who came into the game on a four-game losing streak.
Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson went bat crazy, driving in five runs with a solo home run, a three-run double and a run-scoring single.
The Reds scored eight runs on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings against Keller, whose earned run average leaped from 3.87 to 4.21.
The night, though, belonged to Martinez.
While he considers himself a starter, Martinez is team-oriented and is willing to do what the team wants.
I’ve always believed in myself as a starter,” he said during his post-game media conference. “For me, the most important thing is to win a World Series and I’ll take whatever it takes to do that. Whatever the role is, whatever the team needs, I’m up for it.
“It is nice to get into a rhythm and a role here,” he added. “Obviously, you’d like it earlier in the season, but I’ll take it when I can get it.”
Of his performance Friday, Martinez was all smiles after he struck out the side in his final inning.
“Nothing changed tonight, just being aggressive in the zone and challenging guys,” he said. “It was communicating with Stevo (catcher Stephenson) between innings talking about what we’re seeing and what they’re trying to do.”
Whatever the Pirates tried was an abject failure.
“It was nice to prove that I can start,” he added. “I’ve always had to prove myself and I don’t think that’s going to change. So whatever the team needs me to do, I’m up for it.”
It was a statement game for the Reds. They had lost seven of 10 to the Pirates this year and 27 of the last 42.
And it assured the Reds they would not fall behind the Pirates into last place this weekend in the National League Central. The fourth-place Reds are 2 1/2 games ahead of the last-place Pirates with two games left in the series.
Amazingly, with the win the Reds are 33-18 in the first game of a series, the best in MLB, a large portion of their 73 victories.
Stephenson got it started with his 19th homer, a two-out blast in the first.
The Reds added three in the third when Keller walked Benson, who was 0 for 9 with six strikeouts against Keller and 1 for his last 13 overall.
Keller also walked Jonathan India and Elly De La Cruz singled to fill the bases. Stephenson cleared them with a three-run double up the left-center gap. Ty France contributed a sacrifice fly and it was 5-0.
The Reds put it away with three more in the fourth. With one out, India stroked his 19th homer, a 425-footer into the left-field seats.
De La Cruz walked and stole second, his 100th career theft. He joined Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman, two noted base-stealers, as the only players to steal 100 or more bases in their first two seasons.
Stephenson singled him home for his fifth RBI, tying his career high, and Spencer Steer doubled home Stephenson for an 8-0 lead.
Brent Suter took over for Martinez in the seventh and became the third Reds relief pitcher in three days to give up a home run to his first batter, Oneil Cruz, joining Tony Santillan and Justin Wilson.
The Pirates added two runs in the ninth off just called-up Alan Busenitz.
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