Martin ready for a break as White Sox lose to Boston again
White Sox starter Davis Martin was probably the team MVP of the first half, but things are slipping a bit, and he knows it.
The right-hander endured his fifth straight start without recording a win as the Sox lost to Boston 5-0 on Wednesday at Rate Field.
The streak of winning 10 consecutive home series will come to an end. The Sox hadn't dropped a series on the South Side since April 24-26, when they lost two of three to Washington, and both losses were in 10 innings.
Martin retired the side in order in the first two innings, then the third and fourth innings featured 5 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks and a wild pitch.
“Mechanically, felt really, really in sync in those first two innings,” Martin said. “Felt like they were really crisp, clean, and then kind of goes downhill from there. I think there's a lot of positive takeaways, but overall, just not good.”
After beating the Cubs on May 16, Martin's season ERA was at 1.61. With this performance, Martin's ERA has risen to 3.41.
The regression is a bit alarming, and mostly the result of four bad outings, including this one against Boston. Martin's previous start in Cleveland last weekend featured just 2 runs allowed, but he was pulled after just 3⅓ innings due to 5 walks and 6 hits.
“I think the physical toll of this first half is starting to show up,” Martin said. “So having this all-star break to really just recuperate, get the body back to where we need to be. I think it's going to clean a lot of that stuff up by itself.”
Martin admitted the workload takes some adjustment. He's at 18 starts, more than he had in either of his first two big-league seasons. Last year, he had 14 starts before the all-star break. Of course, the White Sox as a team were hopefully out of the playoff race by July 1. This year, they're trying to hang onto first place.
“If you told me across the board — stat lines, where our team's at, where I'm at — in spring training, I'd be pretty ecstatic,” Martin said. “But if you put into what the first 10, 12 starts looked like, it's pretty tough.
“It's a really interesting place to be right now. I'm going to celebrate it. We're in a really good spot, had some really good starts, had some really bad starts, but lots to build off of, lots to be excited about for the second half.”
The Red Sox had a rough sequence in the third inning. Willson Contreras fouled the ball off his left foot and need assistance getting back to his feet. The very next pitch was wild, bounced off the wall back to catcher Kyle Teel, and there was a collision at the plate between Teel and Boston's Anthony Seigler, who scored from third on the play, and Seigler was shaken up, staying on the ground for a couple minutes.
Eventually, Contreras hit a deep line drive to center, which Junior Perez caught as he crashed into one of the fence posts in front of The Patio area in the outfield. Perez was OK, but both Contreras (left foot contusion) and Seigler (right trap contusion) left the game. Contreras' line out was the highest exit velocity of the night at 107.5 mph.
Meanwhile, the White Sox were stymied for the second night in a row by a Boston starter. On Wednesday it was rookie left-hander Jake Bennett with 7 scoreless innings. Bennett is part of a powerful Oklahoma trio, who grew up in the state and pitched for the Sooners in the 2022 College World Series, along with the Cubs' Cade Horton, and Sox' David Sandlin.
“Tonight's guy hit his spots, threw the ball well. Pitched in, pitched up, pitched down,” Randal Grichuk said. “I was saying I think that was the best-located pitch game by a starter against us all season. Got to tip your cap some nights.”