Promising Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez was rolling merrily along for four starts, but he has been rolling not-so-merrily backward since.
Martinez was mashed in a second straight outing Saturday night in Pittsburgh. He fell behind 3-0, then blew a 5-3 lead. He finished having surrendered seven runs on seven hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
The right-hander allowed a walk, wild pitch and two doubles in a three-run second. He settled down before giving up a solo homer to Neil Walker in the fifth and two walks and a single in the sixth. All three of those baserunners scored, resulting in his first loss in four decisions.
"Sometimes (Martinez) gets feeling good and wants to turn it another gear," Mike Matheny told The Associated Press. "The other gear really doesn't play well for him. Turns into bad counts, turns into walks, turns into runs."
Martinez has yielded 14 runs on 16 hits and 11 walks in his last nine innings pitched. His ERA has zoomed from 1.73 to 4.89. He will try to right the ship next Friday against tough Detroit.