Martinez helps Rays' fatigued bullpen with 8 IP in win

ST. PETERSBURG -- Rays starter Nick Martinez brought plenty of familiarity with the Reds into Wednesday afternoon’s matchup at Tropicana Field. Martinez pitched for Cincinnati the past two years and still knows plenty of players in the lineup that gave Tampa Bay’s pitching staff fits the past two nights.

Looking ahead to the reunion on Tuesday afternoon, Martinez figured it would be “a lot of fun,” and how well they knew each other would only add “an extra level of excitement.”

Sure enough, the way it played out was a lot of fun and brought plenty of excitement for Martinez and his new team. The veteran right-hander gave the Rays everything they needed in a 6-1 win over the Reds in Wednesday’s series finale, pitching eight dominant innings as Tampa Bay (13-11) avoided a sweep and headed into an off-day on a high note.

“I love it, man. It's a lot of fun,” Martinez said after the game. “Obviously, they know what I do well, and they know I love to compete. … It’s always fun competing against your buddies.”

Martinez held his former team to five hits and one walk while striking out six as he breezed through eight innings on 95 pitches. It was the Rays’ best start of the season and their first eight-inning outing since Shane Baz pitched eight scoreless against the Royals last June 26.

In fact, no Rays starter had worked into the seventh inning in their first 23 games of the season, much less into the eighth, as Martinez did for the fourth time in his Major League career. It was exactly what Tampa Bay needed to rest a struggling, overworked bullpen and reset the team after three straight losses.

“For him to come out and do what he did, not surprising. He's been great for us,” right fielder Ryan Vilade said. “He's one of our leaders, and he led today.”

Reds manager Terry Francona offered high praise for Martinez when Rays manager Kevin Cash reached out about him earlier this year. Francona told Cash all about Martinez’s leadership, energy and, of course, ability.

On Wednesday, the Reds saw everything they came to appreciate about him over the last two seasons.

“Just, it wasn’t for us. It was against us,” Francona said. “That’s what he can do. He threw strikes, and he stayed out of the middle of the plate. He changed speeds. He pitched.”

So far, Martinez has been everything the Rays could have hoped for when they signed him to a one-year, $13 million deal in February, if not more. He almost immediately became a highly popular teammate inside their clubhouse, and he has been a reliable presence in their rotation, allowing two runs or fewer in each of his first five starts.

“He's a good leader, and he brings good energy to the clubhouse every day,” catcher Nick Fortes said. “I think that's been showing in his work out on the field, for sure.”

The Reds know Martinez and what he does well, but that didn’t mean they had an answer for it.

Martinez was on the attack all day. He worked quickly, pounded the zone with sinkers, got ahead in counts (with 23 first-pitch strikes to the 30 hitters he faced) and created a ton of weak contact. He didn’t throw a pitch in a three-ball count until the fifth inning, when he issued his lone walk, and only faced one more such count for the rest of the day.

It sounds simple, but Fortes said Martinez’s success was just a product of “executing the game plan really, really well.”

“I felt great. Big time to come through with eight [innings], given our bullpen has thrown the crap out of it for us the last week with no off-days,” Martinez added. “That's not something you really have on your mind, but I've got to be efficient and got to attack the zone to give myself a chance.”

The Rays gave Martinez plenty of help, both in the field and at the plate. All three starting outfielders -- Chandler Simpson, Jonny DeLuca and Vilade -- made an excellent play at the wall behind Martinez, and Simpson added a sliding catch in left in the seventh inning.

“Those guys were all over the place for me today,” Martinez said, smiling.

Offensively, the Rays put up three runs in the second inning against Reds starter Brandon Williamson, scoring first for the first time in seven games. Junior Caminero added his sixth homer of the season in the third, Vilade drove in a run in the fifth, and the Rays added another after loading the bases in the seventh.

“Overall, we played a pretty clean baseball game,” Cash said. “Had some really good at-bats and just a stellar pitching performance.”