During a 4-3 victory over Willie Stargell White Jersey the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, manager Mike Matheny said the 23-year-old Martinez was simply too good to take out early. In the eighth inning, he judged ''awkward swings'' from the Pirates.
''The potential win supersedes anything we have in place right now,'' Matheny said. ''Right then we needed our best pitcher, and to me he was the best pitcher we had for that situation, and I think he proved that.''
All season, the St. Louis Cardinals have tried to minimize the innings load for Carlos Martinez and Michael Wacha, saving their two young pitchers for the postseason.
Yadier Molina tied it with a sacrifice fly and rookie Stephen Piscotty singled in the go-ahead run on consecutive at-bats off Jeff Locke (6-7) in the fifth inning. Kolten Wong singled twice for his first multihit game of the month and Piscotty had three hits.
Trevor Rosenthal struck out the side in Ryan Howard Red Jersey the ninth for his 34th save in 36 chances. The Cardinals lead the Pirates by six games in the NL Central and are 6-5 in the season series with seven of the games decided by one run and five in the final at-bat.
''Carlos did what our pitching's known for,'' Wong said of the right-hander. ''We're facing some good pitching on that side and they're going to face our best pitching. It's exciting.''
Martinez (12-4) began the game throwing more off-speed stuff than usual and gave up single runs in the first, third and fourth but kept it close for a breakthrough three-run fifth that began with consecutive walks to Wong and Jhonny Peralta. He matched his career high for innings, striking out eight with one walk, and allowed one runner in scoring position his last three innings.
''Before the eighth, Mike asked me how I felt, 'Could I go one more inning?''' Martinez said through an interpreter. ''I said, 'Yeah, I'm ready to go.'''
Martinez had wriggled out of a first-and-second, no-out jam in Pittsburgh's fifth, inducing a 6-3 double play from center fielder Andrew McCutchen and a lineout from third baseman Aramis Ramirez that shifted the momentum of the game.
"That was huge," St. Louis second baseman Kolten Wong said of Martinez's escape act. "We knew we had to get something going on offense."
The Cardinals did, with Pirates starter Jeff Locke struggling with his fastball accuracy as he walked Wong and shortstop Jhonny Peralta to start the bottom of the fifth inning.
Right fielder Jason Heyward's ground ball single to right scored Wong to make it 3-2. After an infield out moved two runners into scoring position, catcher Yadier Molina lofted a sacrifice fly that brought in Peralta.
Piscotty then laced a single to center that brought Heyward home.
"It's odd to see a rookie http://www.officialpadresshop.com/authentic-24-cameron-maybin-jersey.html with the kind of disposition that Stephen has," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.
"He's going about it the right way. He's using all the tools at his disposal -- doing his film work, talking with the other hitters -- and he's adjusted quickly."
Given his first lead, Martinez mixed in more off-speed pitches to complement a fastball which was still touching 96 mph during the eighth inning.
"I know they've seen me before," he said through an interpreter, "so they know I throw hard. I had to throw other pitches to keep them off-balance."
Pittsburgh had nicked Robinson Cano Womens Jersey Martinez for runs in three of the first four innings. Shortstop Jung Ho Kang delivered a two-out RBI double in the first, while Ramirez snapped a 1-1 tie in the third with a two-out run-scoring single.