Martinez fired six scoreless innings in a Grapefruit League win over the Mets on Wednesday, allowing four hits, two walks and hitting a batter while recording five strikeouts.
Martinez presumably entered Wednesday's outing with some serious ground to make up on John Gant for a spot in the starting rotation, and he impressively met the moment with his best performance of the spring. Zachary Silver of MLB.com reports Martinez was able to deploy all five of his pitches with success, and manager Mike Shildt remarked that there's a "really good chance" the veteran right-hander opens the regular season as the No. 3 starter, although the status of Kwang Hyun Kim (back) for his first scheduled turn through the rotation is expected to play an integral role in whether that comes to fruition.