Nationals righty allows five runs in four frames
The journey took him through minor-league towns like Burlington, N.C. and Columbus, Ga. He’s pitched all over Ohio — Akron, Niles and Eastlake — with two separate stops in Kinston, N.C.
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But it was only when J.D. Martin reached upstate New York — and the Triple-A cities of Buffalo and Syracuse — that he knew the big leagues were close. Monday night, the 26-year-old right-handed pitcher finally made it.
In his ninth season of professional baseball, Martin made his major-league debut for the Nationals in a game against the New York Mets. It wasn’t quite the performance he’d wanted — four innings pitched, five runs allowed in a 6-2 loss at Nationals Park. But it was a shot. And for now that will have to do.
The Mets rapped Martin for seven hits in the first two innings alone — two of them RBI doubles. He finally settled down in the third, eventually retiring the final six batters he faced before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fourth.
Martin was a first-round draft pick by the Cleveland Indians in 2001. Chosen out of high school, the Ridgecrest, Calif. native worked his way through the Cleveland system. By 2005, he was in the midst of a fine season at Double-A Akron before elbow problems struck. Martin underwent Tommy John surgery and didn’t return until the summer of 2006. But he pitched in only 22 games over the next year-and-a-half when elbow pain recurred early in 2007.
He had a nice season at Akron in 2008 (11-3, 2.49 ERA) and — after leaving Cleveland as a minor-league free agent for the Nats — he was 8-3 with a 2.66 ERA at Triple-A Syracuse. Martin wasn’t even on the 40-man roster as of last weekend. But the Nats needed a starter after Scott Olsen’s shoulder problems returned him to the disabled list and so decided to give Martin a chance.
Those five early runs Monday were all New York needed. Livan Hernandez gave up just five hits and two runs in seven innings. Jeff Francoeur homered in the ninth to add an insurance run for the Mets (43-48). Josh Bard had a pair of doubles and drove home two runs for the Nats (26-66).
