Martin’s third start valuable experience
Rookie righty can learn from mistakes as well as surging Giolito’s four-hitter
When this wretched night neared its end, A.J. Hinch hopped from the dugout steps and onto the dirt. He motored toward the mound to meet Corbin Martin, a rookie rocked in his third major league start.
Martin awaited his manager. Hinch did not signal to the bullpen for Framber Valdez nor did Martin hand over the baseball. The Astros infielders gathered around the two men, who engaged in an abnormally long conversation for such a situation.
“I was watching him, like a lot of young pitchers, carry one bad pitch into the next bad pitch into the next bad pitch,” Hinch said. “It’s a learning experience for him and I know he’ll be better for it.”
Hinch did most of, if not all, the talking. Occasionally, he patted the pitcher on his chest. One teammate tapped Martin’s backside in support. After around a minute, Hinch summoned Valdez to mark an end to this miserable outing.
“I started to think about the outcome before it even happened,” Martin said. “And I can’t let that happen.”
Against a surging White Sox starter who suffocated the Astros, Martin managed 3⅓ innings. His fastball command was nonexistent. Use of his secondary stuff was limited because of it. The worst showing of
Martin’s budding career afforded the Astros little chance in a 4-0 loss to Chicago on Thursday at Minute Maid Park.
The Astros managed four singles against righty Lucas Giolito, a former first-round pick who last season ranked among the American League’s worst starting pitchers. The 118 earned runs he allowed were more than any other major league starter. His 90 walks topped the AL, numbers that have turned during his fourth major league season.
Before Thursday’s taming of the Astros, opponents hit .198 against Giolito in May. He yielded two earned runs in his last 19⅓ innings. Twenty-seven hitters this month struck out against him. Nine Astros added their names to that list. Giolito required 107 pitches to finish.
“Hats off to him for coming in and throwing all his pitches for strikes,” Hinch said. “He had really good stuff. He’s changed his delivery and arm action a little bit, which got him in the strike zone and generated a ton of swings and misses, soft contact. He came in and really commanded the game from the very beginning.”
Giolito was the first pitcher since Luis Severino on May 2, 2018, to throw a complete-game shutout against the Astros. Valdez and Josh James teamed to toss 4⅔ scoreless innings in relief of Martin. The offense could not make it count for much.
An Astros runner did not reach scoring position. Giolito’s fastball danced to both sides of home plate, hovering around 95 mph. An equal mix of changeups and sliders in putaway counts induced eight swings and misses.
The Astros hit four singles in nine innings. Josh Reddick started the Astros’ first with one, an opposite-field flare that went for naught, extinguishing any effort to provide Martin with a cushion.
Martin entered the outing with two appearances — one awesome and the other adequate. This one was awful. He ceded six hits and allowed three earned runs. An unearned run crossed, too, the consequence of Martin’s errant pickoff throw to first base during a 29pitch third inning.
“The anxiousness is what I saw tonight that we’re not used to from him,” Hinch said. “Once he settles in, I think he’ll be able to command his tempo and his rhythm and mentally and physically.”
Against the Red Sox five days ago, Martin had no command of his breaking pitches. Boston swung and missed twice against 74 pitches. Martin acknowledged after the game he “gave them no reason to” whiff against his slider or curveball. He walked four.
“That was probably on the front of his head,” Hinch said. “That I’m not going to walk guys. As he started falling behind, he started going to the middle of the strike zone and they got a couple hits.”
The White Sox scorched Martin’s imprecise arsenal, feasting on four-seam fastballs the righthander was forced to throw. Martin began behind 2-0 or 3-0 to five of the first eight hitters he faced.
His fastball ran erratically to his arm side. For a second straight start, he flew open during his delivery. Efforts to throw secondary pitches earlier in counts to gain rhythm failed.
“Through the first two innings I felt really good so my confidence was way up,” Martin said. “Go out in the third inning and not necessarily baby the ball but tried to be too perfect with it. And it caught up with me. They took advantage of my mistakes. It’s frustrating and it happens.”
Three balls began his third inning against Yolmer Sanchez. The eight-hole hitter crushed a double off the left-center-field wall, concluding a seven-pitch at-bat. A first-pitch strike to nine-hole hitter Charlie Tilson was progress. The next four offerings were not. All missed the zone, turning the lineup over with no outs and a man in scoring position.
After racing ahead in his count 3-0, leadoff hitter Yoan Moncada mashed a run-scoring double down the first-base line. Tim Anderson ambushed a first pitch changeup for an RBI single. Martin tried to pick him off first base, but threw the baseball into the stands. Moncada scored on the error.
“It just seemed to pile up on him a little bit,” Hinch said. “He has a smooth delivery to begin with. He’s a guy who has an easy tempo and he’ll maintain that through the stress next time.”
Two strikeouts stopped the threat and offered Martin a halfinning to calm himself. His curveball landed in the strike zone, fostering optimism.
Eloy Jimenez, a rookie himself, jolted Martin back to reality to begin the fourth. On the third pitch, Jimenez demolished a four-seam fastball for a homer to center field. Sanchez singled on a curveball two batters later, sending Hinch from the dugout.
“It just spiraled,” the manager said. “A learning game for him, which is not uncommon for a young pitcher.” chandler.rome@chron.com twitter.com/chandler_rome