Martinez's dominance wasted as struggles vs. Crew continue

MILWAUKEE – The Reds have shown this season that they have the kind of starting pitching that could be dangerous in the playoffs. But the lack of offensive support often given to that pitching is a reason their chances of playing in October are getting leaner and leaner.

Nick Martinez faced one batter over the minimum for seven scoreless innings, but the Reds were felled in a 1-0 defeat to the Brewers on Saturday at American Family Field. It was a Rhys Hoskins home run against reliever Tony Santillan in the eighth inning that doomed Cincinnati.

“It sucks. No other way to put it, really. We played a good game and we got edged out," Martinez said.

Martinez allowed one hit, a two-out single by Gary Sánchez in the fourth inning, and hit a batter in the seventh – also Sánchez – while issuing zero walks and striking out seven. He threw a season-high 94 pitches.

“What a start. We needed it the most. Nick, he just can’t be any better than that," Reds manager David Bell said.

But Brewers starter Tobias Myers countered with 7 1/3 scoreless innings with three hits and nine strikeouts.

"That's a good win," said Hoskins, who slugged a 97 mph fastball from Santillan to left field for his homer with two outs in the eighth inning. "That's a game that you win, where you don't necessarily think you will win it because of how good a job that Martinez did keeping us off-balance."

The Reds have the fifth-most losses in the Major Leagues in one-run games at 9-21. They also have 10 shutout losses this season, including three 1-0 defeats. Each of those 1-0 losses came against National League Central rivals in the Pirates, Cardinals and now the Brewers.

At 56-61 overall, Cincinnati is last in the division and 11 1/2 games behind first-place Milwaukee. In the NL Wild Card race, they are 5 1/2 games from the final berth.

“We’ve got to win those games," first baseman Jeimer Candelario said. "These are games that matter a lot for our division. We need to figure out how to get those games – close games – and win them. We need to play better. We played good but we didn’t score runs. We have to score runs. That’s the way you win ballgames.”

What Martinez did on Saturday was nothing to take for granted. It came against a Milwaukee club that scored 42 runs with 59 hits and 20 extra-base hits (10 homers) in its previous four games.

Also factor in that Martinez – who has spent most of the season in the Reds’ bullpen – hasn't made back-to-back starts since late April. He hadn't thrown more than 70 pitches in a game since throwing 78 on April 30 and his previous season high of 92 pitches came all the way back on April 6.

Martinez entered the night with a 1.86 ERA in 26 relief appearances but a 6.16 ERA over his previous six starts.

“He works really hard in every outing and every role he has," Candelario said. "He’s been helping us win ballgames. We didn’t put up runs for him. He deserved that ‘W,’ man. He was locked in. He was painting. He was throwing his pitches.”

Martinez was throwing six different pitches, actually.

"I was landing curveballs early and often. The curveball, the changeup, the fastball to both sides, the cutter to both sides. All my pitches felt really good," Martinez said.

At 81 pitches after six innings and still building up to the 90-plus pitch count, Martinez was asked if he had another inning.

"I told them, ‘I felt good. I think I’ve got another one.’ I was really taking it one pitch at a time and seeing where I stack up at the end," he said.

In the seventh, Martinez got Jackson Chourio looking at a third-strike fastball and hit Sánchez with a pitch. Pinch-runner Blake Perkins was cut down trying to steal second base before Martinez retired William Contreras on a grounder to second base.

It wasn't enough for the Reds, who are 2-6 vs. the Brewers this season and have lost 29 of 40 games against them since the start of the 2022 season. The last time the Reds won a full season series over Milwaukee was 2016.

"I was in San Diego and the Dodgers had our number for a lot," Martinez said. "Our mentality is we have to stick in there and play them really tough. Take it one game at a time and if we get to the playoffs and face them in the playoffs, it’s a whole different ballgame. In ’22, you saw us take out the Dodgers. We didn’t let the monkey on our backs take control."