Pedro solid in five innings in his debut for the Phillies
CHICAGO – Pedro Martinez saw a little bit of everything in his first start as a Phillie: an eight-run inning from his offense, a no-out bases-loaded jam in his final inning, and a cup of ice thrown from the bleachers at Wrigley Field that struck his centerfielder in his face.
All in all, it was an eventful debut, one that did little to foretell his eventual fate as a stretch-run starter.
Making his first major league start since Sept. 25, the future Hall of Famer allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out five while walking one in five innings. He left the game after allowing two runs in the fifth inning. At the time, the Phillies held a 12-3 lead, thanks to an eight-run fourth inning that included three-run home runs by Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez.
Martinez threw 99 pitches, 64 of them for strikes. He struggled with his command at times, but showed better-than-advertised velocity and an effective changeup. Martinez’ last pitch, a fastball on which Kosuke Fukodome flew out to left field, was clocked at 90 miles an hour. His velocity averaged between 88 and 91, but he hit 92 on the radar gun on several occasions.
“I thought about attacking the strike zone, especially after we had that long [eight-run] inning [in the fourth],” Martinez said on the Comcast SportsNet broadcast of the game. “This last inning, I got out of the stretch and kind of struggled a little bit, but right now, I am very excited to have done those five innings, and I am looking forward to next week.”
The most bizarre event of the night occurred in the fifth inning, when Shane Victorino was struck in the head with a cup of ice as he caught a towering sacrifice fly from cleanup hitter Jake Fox. The cup appeared to be thrown from the stands, where Victorino and leftfielder Raul Ibanez pointed and shouted at the culprit.
When he left the game, Martinez was in line for his first victory since Aug. 31, when he allowed two runs in six innings of a 6-2 win over the Marlins while pitching for the Mets. *
For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy’s blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.
Source:.philly.com
Comments