'He's a competitor': Martin records scoreless outing in series finale

OAKLAND -- Few teams understand what the White Sox are going through in 2024 better than the A's, who have gradually taken a step forward this year after losing more than 100 games in back-to-back seasons.

Chicago dropped 101 games in 2023 and is already nearing the century mark in losses in '24 after Wednesday afternoon's 3-2 loss in Oakland dropped the South Siders to 28-89. At this point in the season, the White Sox are playing with an eye toward building for the future, a day-by-day experience that isn't always easy, which their opponents can empathize with.

“I think that you focus on the day and just try to win each day from here going forward. Get 1% better," A's manager Mark Kotsay said. "It’s tough to see it when you’re in it, that it’s going to pay dividends, but we’re starting to see the teaching and the work that we’ve put in with this crew have a lot of benefit.”

The bright spot amid the growing pains was clear in Wednesday's finale loss, as Davis Martin put together one of the best outings of his young career. The 27-year-old right-hander tossed six scoreless innings before the A's mounted a comeback against the bullpen to hand the White Sox their 10th straight series loss -- the longest streak since Oakland also lost 10 in a row to open the 2023 campaign.

Martin, making his third appearance (second start) since returning from Tommy John surgery, began his day with four hitless innings, allowing only two baserunners on a hit-by-pitch and a walk in that span.

The A's got a pair of base hits in the fifth, but that was all Martin allowed across six stellar frames. It was the longest scoreless outing of Martin's career, surpassing his previous high of 5 1/3 innings with no runs allowed on June 15, 2022.

"It’s the big leagues. TJ is hard, sometimes you don’t have the feel for stuff," Martin said. "The fact you can have some success in the big leagues post-TJ brings a lot of confidence the next week and the week after that. Just going forward, it’s a really good starting point for me to build off of and go from there."

Martin added a cutter before returning to the big leagues this season and has used it to great success so far. Entering Wednesday, he had thrown 22 without allowing a hit.

He gave up his first hit on the offering against the A's while throwing 36 cutters for 44% of his 82 pitches. Martin sees it as more of a pitch that can help him get back in counts, but he also collected one strikeout on the cutter.

"It keeps guys off-balance, especially left-handed hitters," manager Pedro Grifol said. "He can spin it so well that that's a pretty good pitch for him because it's disrupting the rhythm and the timing. … He's a bulldog. He's a competitor."

In his first two appearances this season, Martin had thrown his cutter about 16% of the time, so Wednesday marked the most he has thrown it in a game by far. The early returns have encouraged Martin to keep going, and he's built confidence with the pitch in every outing.

Most importantly, Martin has learned how to make adjustments with the new offering.

"Early on it was, 'Hey, it’s either really good and I don’t know how to fix it, or it’s really bad,'" Martin said. "Now, if we back one up, we can make the adjustment to get it in, and if we want to backdoor it, we can try to backdoor it. That’s what’s growing with that pitch, the feel for it and how to adjust pitch to pitch."

The three-team deal ahead of the Trade Deadline that sent Erick Fedde to the Cardinals, among other moves, created an opening in the White Sox rotation that was immediately filled by Martin.

While Chicago has several pitching prospects in its farm system who could be ready to contribute to the big league team in 2025, a strong finish to the season could give Martin a leg up in the eventual competition.

"He looks really good, man," Grifol said of Martin. "He's a piece in this organization moving forward."