ST. LOUIS — Carlos Martinez, in effect, was pitching for his starting job for the Cardinals on Tuesday night when he carried a losing streak of five games into his outing at Busch Stadium. In four of those games, Martinez (3-9) had pitched a total of 12 2/3 innings and given up a whopping 28 runs while walking 17.
“He’s got to be able to do it consistently tonight, or we’ll see what happens,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt had said before the game.
Ah, but in late April and May the mercurial right-hander had four starts in which he allowed two runs or fewer. Plus he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Arizona, his opponent Tuesday.
