Manager Terry Francona often calls Martinez a “Swiss Army knife,” and the versatile right-hander certainly provided the much-needed sharpness during a critical Reds 2-1 win over the Pirates.
Martinez pitched seven innings, allowing just one run and four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He retired 12 of his final 14 batters, including a four-pitch sixth inning.
Runs have been hard to come by for Cincinnati, which scored only three during its now-broken three-game losing streak — and the Reds had to scrape again on Saturday. The go-ahead run came home on TJ Friedl’s sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning.
Pittsburgh had a 1-0 lead on Tommy Pham’s third-inning sacrifice fly when the Reds evened the score in the top of the fourth.
Spencer Steer hit a one-out single to left field against Braxton Ashcraft. With two outs and reliever Carmen Mlodzinski pitching, Noelvi Marte hit an RBI double down the left-field line to make it a 1-1 game.
Marte burned Mlodzinski again in the seventh inning with a leadoff double to left field and moved to third base on Ke’Bryan Hayes’ grounder to second base. Against lefty Ryan Borucki, Friedl hit a drive to right field, where Bryan Reynolds made a nice diving catch. But Marte was able to score on the play for a Cincinnati lead.
