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St. Louis Cardinals: Takeaways From the Opening Series
By Nathan Grime
It goes without saying: Carlos Martinez pitched brilliantly for the St. Louis Cardinals against arguably the top lineup in Major League Baseball.
He didn’t get the win because of the eventful ninth inning, and Randal Grichuk‘s late-inning heroics were certainly worthy of praise, but Opening Night belonged to the tsunami. Much was made of manager Mike Matheny giving Martinez the ball instead of Wainwright Sunday night, and the 25-year old phenom delivered.
He went through the Chicago lineup three times in total, facing twenty-seven batters and hurling 105 pitches. Considering he went 7 1/3 innings, it was an efficient outing against a lineup that is notorious for working counts and torturing opposing hurlers with their bats.
He struck out ten, only the second Cardinal to do so on Opening Day (Bob Gibson, of course, is the other). He’s only the fourth pitcher ever in major league history to pitch at least seven shutout innings with ten strikeouts and zero walks allowed on Opening Day.
This is one of those performances that we can reasonably consider to be a precursor of more things to come this season.
Martinez was already a very good starting pitcher in 2015 and 2016, but as the Opening Day hurler for St. Louis in 2017, he shoulders more expectations than ever. The organization believes he can contend for the Cy Young Award this year. Watching Martinez pitch all summer long for the Cardinals will be a treat to watch.