In his fourth Major League start the Dutch national team pitcher Shairon Martis finally picked up his first win. He started for the Washington Nationals on Tuesday in their 9-4 victory against the Florida Marlins. Martis pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing five hits, three runs and two walks. He struck out five. Washington ended a five-game losing streak with the win. His parents watched from the stands.
The runs against him came on a RBI single by Mike Jacobs in the first, a solo homerun by Josh Willingham in the third and a RBI single by Dan Uggla in the sixth, when he already sat on the bench in the dugout. After a strikeout leading off the sixth, he put two men on through walks and was relieved by Steven Shell, who immediately gave up the Uggla-single, but avoided further damage by inducing a double play to end the period with the Nats leading 4-3.
In four starts Martis now has a 1-3 record with an ERA of 5.89 and 20 strikeouts (12 walks) in 18.1 innings pitched. If the coaching staff doesn’t change his mind, the rookie could get the start in the last game of the season on Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies. At MLB.com he is still listed as the probable starter for the match at the Citizens Bank Park in South Philly.
