Martinez (0-2) took the loss in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Twins, giving up four runs on seven hits and a walk over 3.2 innings. He struck out three.
After tossing a couple of scoreless frames in his first outing since July 28, Martinez hit a wall, serving up a three-run shot to Josh Donaldson in the third and then another run in the fourth before he made his exit. It's still encouraging that he was able to throw 80 pitches (54 strikes) after the long layoff, but as has been the case in recent years, he'll need to be more efficient if he's going to stick in the St. Louis rotation. Martinez lines up to make his next start as part of another twin bill, this one in Milwaukee on Monday.