Disastrous would be an understatement to describe Carlos Martinez’s start against the Dodgers on Wednesday night.
The St. Louis Cardinals right-hander failed to make it out of the first inning in what was a historically bad performance. It came after he had one of the best starts of his career over the weekend – taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning against the Diamondbacks.
But on Wednesday, Martinez allowed 10 earned runs, in what was an 11-run first for the Dodgers, allowing eight baserunners and six runs before he recorded his first out.
It was just the fifth time in MLB history that a starter allowed 10 earned runs in less than one full inning pitched.
Martinez joined the likes of Luke Hudson, Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Jennings and Bubba Harris. Gurthrie was the last to do it, on April 8, 2017 as a member of the Washington Nationals in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
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The Cardinals pulled Martinez after he tossed 39 pitches — 19 for strikes — and loaded the bases with Cody Bellinger due up.
Reliever Jake Woodford entered the game and promptly gave up a grand slam to Bellinger, with all the runners on base being charged to Martinez.
The right-hander’s final line was 0.2 innings pitched, 10 earned runs, six hits and four walks. It was his shortest start since Sept. 25, 2015, when he came out of a game after just two batters due to a shoulder injury.
Manager Mike Shildt did not believe it was injury-related this time, though.
“He just wans’t able to command his pitches like he’s used to — balls found some holes, obviously, some balls hit hard, and he just wans’t able to get into any kind of rhythm, wasn’t able to stop the damage,” Shildt said after the game, per MLB.com. “More balls than strikes, some close misses. Just wasn’t his night.”
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