The St. Louis Cardinals may have lost ace Adam Wainwright for the season, but Carlos Martinez appears very capable of picking up the slack.
Martinez seeks to continue his impressive start Wednesday night when the Cardinals face the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
Wainwright is out for the season with a torn left Achilles suffered in Saturday's 5-3 win at Milwaukee and St. Louis (13-6) lost its following two games before beating Philadelphia 11-5 on Tuesday.
Giving the ball to Martinez (2-0, 1.35 ERA) should increase the Cardinals' chances at leveling their record without the three-time All-Star. The right-hander was used almost exclusively out of the bullpen over the past two seasons, posting a combined 4.28 ERA.
It didn't take long for him to settle into his new role after being named the fifth starter during spring training. All three of his starts have ended in Cardinals victories and he's completed six innings each time.
Martinez is coming off his best performance yet, allowing four hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings of a 3-0 win at Milwaukee on Friday
The Series:
Season series tied 1-1
April 27, 2015-Philadelphia 4, St. Louis 1
April 28, 2015-St. Louis 11, Philadelphia 5
April 29, 2015-PHL (Harang) @ STL (Martínez)-7:05 PM CDT
April 30, 2015-PHL (Buchanan) @ STL (Cooney)-12:45 PM CDT
One hit and three walks from Heyward once Matheny finally moved him down in the order last night. Wonder if Mike will keep him there for a little while.
Late: A start against the very left-handed Phillies will be a test for Carlos Martinez. The book on C-Mart is that he’s prone to opposite-handed hitters. It certainly doesn’t look like anything has changed this year. He has a 2.64 FIP against righties and a 5.44 FIP against lefties. Philadelphia can stack the deck with up to six left-handed hitters.
Late: A start against the very left-handed Phillies will be a test for Carlos Martinez. The book on C-Mart is that he’s prone to opposite-handed hitters. It certainly doesn’t look like anything has changed this year. He has a 2.64 FIP against righties and a 5.44 FIP against lefties. Philadelphia can stack the deck with up to six left-handed hitters.