St. Louis Cardinals: Carlos Martinez has historically awful start

The St. Louis Cardinals did not do Carlos Martinez any favors on Wednesday. He was lined up to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that is considered to be one of the favorites for the World Series. While Martinez has been decent enough this season, his performance seemed to be a matter of smoke and mirrors, one where the illusion could shatter at any moment.

And shatter it did. Martinez was only able to record two outs during his start on Wednesday, allowing ten runs on six hits and four walks while managing to record a strikeout. The Dodgers batted around on him before he was mercifully lifted from the game.

Carlos Martinez has historically awful outing for St. Louis Cardinals

While Martinez had not been the same pitcher he was when he first arrived in the majors, he had been a solid enough arm for St. Louis this year. He entered the day with a decent 4.22 ERA and a 1.069 WHiP over his 53.1 innings, striking out 30 batters with 16 walks. Those numbers were boosted by an unsustainable .233 batting average on balls in play, a mark that screamed that regression was coming.

And regression came in a hurry. With that outing, Martinez became one of the few pitchers to start a game, allow ten earned runs, and not escape the first inning. He joins the likes of Jeremy Guthrie in 2017, Jason Jennings in 2007, and Luke Hudson in 2006 to have such a dreadful start.

Two other pitchers have also allowed ten runs in an inning or less. Jon Lester gave up ten runs in a start in 2017, but only four of those were earned. The very first pitcher to have such an awful outing was actually a reliever – Bubba Harris back in 1948. He allowed 12 earned on six hits, five walks, and hit batter while recording two outs.

In the end, no matter how ugly it may be, it is just one outing. Martinez has been able to keep the Cardinals in the game for the most part, Wednesday’s performance notwithstanding. The Cardinals will need him to continue to be a solid arm in the back of the rotation. While he typically has been that this year, he just did not have anything on Wednesday night.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez made history on Wednesday night. It just was not the type of history that he wanted to make.