Near no-no from Nick Martinez, Spencer Steer’s three homers lead Reds past Padres

An epic night at GABP!

Nick Martinez doesn’t owe anything to the San Diego Padres, but he surely holds them in pretty high regard.

The former Texas Rangers draftee (and four-year member of the club from 2014-2017) struggled repeatedly at the big league level early in his career, and eventually ended up in Japan pitching in NPB for four full seasons.

It was the Padres, though, that identified something in Martinez overseas and signed him to come back to Major League Baseball in 2022, and Nick hasn’t really slowed down since. The now 34-year old righty spent a pair of excellent, versatile seasons pitching both in San Diego’s rotation and bullpen as they spent big and pursued postseason dreams, eventually landing with the Cincinnati Reds prior to the 2024 season once he reached free agency.

With the Reds, he’s seen similar successes. Entering play tonight, he owned a 3.59 ERA (125 ERA+) in 228.1 IP with Cincinnati across two seasons, while he’d logged a 3.45 ERA (116 ERA+) across 216.2 IP with San Diego in the cavernous parks of the NL West.

For all his perks before Friday’s start against San Diego, Martinez put on his absolute best performance against his former team for the Reds in the series opener. He carried a no-hitter into the Top of the 9th, eventually exiting after a double off the wall to begin that frame. He fired 112 pitches - tying a career high - and finished the night with a lone earned run charged after 8.0 IP.

It was precisely the kind of get-right outing he needed, something he himself hinted at by willingly appearing out of the bullpen lately after a couple rough starts.

Not to be outdone, the Cincinnati Reds offense sprung to life to back him early and often. Spencer Steer, in particular, was front and center, socking a trio of homers to continue breaking out of his early-season funk. Steer drove in four on the night and raised his season-long slugging percentage up some 40 points in the process, and getting him back as the guy he’d been for much of the last two seasons seems poised to be an incredibly fortuitous mid-season development for this club.

The Reds won, 8-1, in a thumping series opener that took them once again to 4 games over the .500 mark. They did so in dominant fashion as this team continues to evolve into what appears to be a vintage Terry Francona club by every game.