Martis suffers loss as Nats get blanked 2-0; Belliard injures groin
Pitchers' Shairon Martis, for the Nationals and James Parr, for the Braves, made their Major League debut on Thursday night. One looked calm and cool under pressure and the other struggled to find his groove.
Four Braves pitchers combined to shut out the Nationals 2-0, the 21st time this season Washington failed to score a run. The win by Atlanta snaps a five-game losing streak to the Nationals.
Martis gave up two runs on four hits in five innings, but he walked five Braves, which allowed his pitch count to rise too quickly. Martis threw 92 pitches, 46 of which were balls.
Parr was excellent in his first career start. He tossed six innings of two-hit ball to earn his first Major League victory. The two hits, a double and infield single, came off the bat of Ronnie Belliard. Parr walked three and struck out three while throwing 101 pitches.
The Braves got to the Nationals rookie right-hander in the third when Kelly Johnson tripled and scored on Brian McCann's deep sac fly to left field. The fourth proved to be the toughest of the night for Martis.
Casey Kotchman walked to lead-off the inning. One out later Brandon Jones and Parr walked to load the bases. On a 3-2 pitch, Gregor Blanco hit a sharp grounder to short that Cristian Guzman stopped, before he spun around and got the force out at second. Kotchman scored on the play to make it 2-0.
Kelly Johnson hit a hump-back liner to second to end the inning and Martis got away with only one run scoring in the inning.
The only real threat the Nationals mounted was in the third. Parr walked Martis with one-out and a wild pitch moved him to second. Willie Harris walked, but Cristian Guzman struck out and Ryan Zimmerman grounded into a force out to end the inning.
Ryan Zimmerman led-off the ninth with a double, extending his hitting streak to 10 games; but closer Mike Gonzalez struck out Lastings Milledge, pinch-hitter Aaron Boone and Elijah Dukes to end the game and nail down his ninth save of the season.
Postgame Notes
Martis struck out Gregor Blanco for the first out of his MLB career.
Luke Montz, who was excellent behind the dish, went 0-3 in his MLB debut, but threw out Brandon Jones trying to steal second base in the eighth inning
Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a ninth-inning double.
Cristian Guzman, who went 0-3 with a walk, had his eight-game streak come to an end.
Final Linescore
Nationals 0-5-1
Braves 2-5-0
WP-Parr (1-0)
LP-Martis (0-1)
SV-Gonzalez (9)
Pete McElroy's Live Gameblog
Montz with the gun
Luke Montz, who threw out 37 percent of of attempted base stealers this season in Double-A and Triple-A combind, gunned down Brandon Jones in the eighth.
On Parr
James Parr was outstanding in his MLB debut. He only gave up two hits, both to Ronnie Belliard. He walked three and struck out three in six solid innings. He retired the seven batters he faced.
6 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 3 K, WP. 101 pitches, 59 strikes
Martis ok in MLB debut
Shairon Martis lasted five innings in his big league debut. He allowed two runs on fur hits, but he walked five Braves, one of which scored the second run. He had trouble throwing strikes and his night ended a little premature. He threw 92 pitches and exactly half were balls. He shouldn't be embarrassed by his performance and he can take away a lot from his first ever start.
5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 2 K, WP. 92 pitches, 46 strikes.
Martis struggles in 4th
Shairon looks like his is trying to throw the ball instead of pitch. What I mean by that is, he's trying to force his throws. He walked the bases loaded, including the Braves pitcher. He can't seem to get any of his pitches over the plate for strikes and has gotten a few borderline strike calls.
4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 2 K, WP. 78 pitches, 40 strikes.
Braves scoring, 4th inning
Nationals' rookie Shairon Martis struggled with his command in the fourth and it cost him a run.
Martis walked the bases loaded, including Braves pitcher James Parr. Lead-off hitter Gregor Blanco grounded into a fielder's choice, but the Braves scored to take a 2-0 lead. Both of Atlanta's runs came with out a base hit driving it in.
Braves scoring, 3rd inning
Shairon Martis gave up the first run of his career and he finds himself trailing the Braves 1-0 after three innings.
Kelly Johnson tripled with one-out and scored on Brian McCann's sac fly. Martis has allowed four hits and walked one so far. He's thrown 50 pitches, 30 for strikes.
Nats leave two stranded
Nationals missed a chance to get on the board in the third and give Shairon Martis some offensive help.
Shairon Martis walked in his first career at bat, with one-out, and moved to second on a wild pitch. Willie Harris worked a free pass, on the ninth pitch of the at bat. After Cristian Guzman struck out, on a foul tip, Ryan Zimmerman grounded into a force out to end the inning.
Montz's career MLB at bat
Luke fouled off a couple of pitches before lining out to left on a good 1-2 curveball from James Parr. Montz reached out for it and was able to pull the ball to left but Brandon Jones had it played perfectly.
Martis's second inning
Another solid inning for the rookie right-hander. He gave up a one-out single, but struck out the pitcher on four pitches. Martis has stranded three base runners to this point. His changeup and breaking pitches look good and his fastball is topping out at 92 MPH.
Martis's first inning
Shairon's first pitch was a ball, but he ended up striking out Gregor Blanco, on a check swing. He got Kelly Johnson to hit a weak grounder just to the right of Martis, who picked it up and threw Johnson out at first. Veteran Chipper Jones sharply singled to right on a 2-1 pitch and Brian McCann blooped an opposite field single to left. Omar Infante popped out to shallow center to end the inning. Not a bad start to his career. Martis threw 15 pitches, 10 strikes.
Breaking News
Just a few hours prior to the first pitch, Jo-Jo Reyes was scratched as the starting pitcher. Rookie right-hander James Parr will make his MLB debut in his place. Parr went 5-3 with a 3.23 ERA in 10 games, nine starts for Triple-A Richmond.
Starting Line-ups
Nationals
LF Willie Harris
SS Cristian Guzman
3B Ryan Zimmerman
CF Lastings Milledge
1B Ronnie Belliard
RF Elijah Dukes
2B Anderson Hernandez
C Luke Montz
P Shairon Martis
Braves
CF Gregor Blanco
2B Kelly Johnson
3B Chipper Jones
C Brian McCann
SS Omar Infante
1B Casey Kotchman
RF Jeff Francoeur
LF Brandon Jones
P James Parr
Game Preview
Nationals (54-86) at Atlanta (60-80)
Washington just wrapped up their nine-game homestand, with an 8-1 record, by beating Philadelphia 9-7 last night. The win gave the Nationals three straight series victories, something they hadn't accomplished since beating the Cubs, Braves and Pirates from April 25-May 4.
Tonight, they begin a four-game series with the Braves, the final time the two teams meet this season. Washington, who swept Atlanta at Nationals Park last week, is 10-4 vs. the Braves this season. They've won five in a row, including two straight at Turner Field.
Atlanta, 3-7 in their last 10 home games, wrapped up a six-game road trip with a 1-5 record. The Braves are only six ahead of the Nationals in the NL East.
Right-handed pitcher Shairon Martis will make his Major League debut tonight. Atlanta counters with Jo-Jo Reyes.
Martis is getting his shot because Collin Balester, who was scheduled to start on Friday, will miss his turn in the rotation due to a mild left glut strain. Jason Bergmann, who was to start tonight, will be pushed back one day and pitch Friday night.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Shairon Martis (NR), a 21-year old rookie, was a combined to go 5-6 with a 3.64 ERA in 21 starts this season for Columbus and Harrisburg.
Martis' 3.64 ERA this season ranks fourth among Nationals Minor League pitchers throwing at least 100 innings in 2008.
Acquired from San Francisco in exchange for Mike Stanton on July 28, 2006, Martis pitched in the MLB Futures Game, which was played on July 13 at Yankee Stadium as part of All-Star Weekend.
Less than a month later, he pitched in the Olympics for the Netherlands. He also pitched for the Netherlands in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and tossed a seven-inning no-hitter in his lone start of the tournament.
LHP Jo-Jo Reyes (3-10, 5.49) is making his second start against the Nationals in five days. He gave up four runs on eight hits in four innings last Friday night at Nationals Park. Washington pulled off the 9-8 win in 10 innings when Elijah Dukes walked with the bases loaded.
Reyes, staked to a 4-0 lead entering the bottom of the fourth, gave up a two-run single to Anderson Hernandez. Things only got worse for the Braves lefty in the fifth. After Atlanta scored two in the top of the inning to take a 6-2 lead, Reyes didn't retire a batter before he was lifted for Buddy Carlyle.
Carlyle gave up an RBI double to Ronnie Belliard and walked Dukes to load the bases before Jesus Flores cleared them with a three-run double. Two of the runs were charged to Reyes and by the time the inning was over, the Nationals had a 7-6 lead.
Reyes is making his third career start against Washington and he's still looking for his first win. He's 0-1 with a 14.21 ERA and they are hitting .469 off him. No, it's not a type-o! Reyes has given up 10 earned runs on 15 hits and six walks in just 6 1/3 innings against the Nationals.
If that's not bad enough, Reyes is 2-5 with a 7.14 ERA in nine starts at Turner Field and he's 0-6 in his last 10 starts.
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