It didn’t take lengthy for ideas of a no-hitter to creep into Nick Martinez’s thoughts Friday.
He held the Padres hitless till the ninth inning through the Reds’ 8-1 win, however Martinez stated ideas of historical past — or what would occur if he may go all 27 outs with out permitting any hits — began forming in his thoughts early within the recreation.
“The demons have been speaking in just like the fourth,” Martinez stated in an on-field interview. “I used to be preventing these demons fairly early on, and I used to be capable of actually simply combat them off and hold my focus only one pitch at a time.”
Martinez, who spent the primary 4 years of his profession with the Rangers earlier than taking part in 4 seasons in Japan after which making an attempt to restart his MLB profession, walked Jackson Merrill within the first inning after which didn’t enable one other baserunner till issuing a five-pitch stroll to Trenton Brooks to begin the ninth.
Then, two pitches later, Elías Díaz doubled, and Martinez’s evening — after 112 pitches — resulted in a what-if.
Nonetheless, Martinez was an unlikely choice to actually have a probability at a no-hitter, as he was moved from the rotation to the bullpen earlier this month earlier than getting the begin to begin the sequence with the Padres.
He collected a 4.55 ERA throughout 15 begins to open the 2025 season, earlier than tossing three scoreless innings out of the bullpen throughout two appearances — together with a scoreless seventh in opposition to the Yankees on Monday.
“My final begin, focus wasn’t fairly there, acquired shelled, which isn’t enjoyable,” Martinez, 34, informed reporters postgame, acknowledging the seven runs he allowed in simply 2 ⅔ innings in opposition to the Twins on June 19. “Popping out of the pen allowed me to simplify issues. It positively helped me tonight.”
His begin in opposition to the Padres, who inked him to a deal for the 2022 season following his years in Japan, showcased that.
And he fought by means of the early ideas to place himself for an opportunity on the Reds’ first no-hitter since Wade Miley in 2021.
Martinez improved to 5-8 this season with a 4.12 ERA, and it marked simply the third time all 12 months he threw not less than seven innings and simply the second time in 2025 he topped 100 pitches.
