Shairon Martis made his Major League debut on Thursday for the Washington Nationals. He lasted five solid innings on the mound, allowing four hits, two runs and five walks. He struck out two, taking the loss in a pitchers duel with fellow debutant James Parr. Parr, who started for the Atlanta Braves outpitched Martis, giving up just two hits and three base on balls in six innings.
Martis started with two scoreless innings, before the Braves came through in the third, when Kelly Johnson scored on sac fly by Brian McCann. One frame later they added a run on Gregor Blanco’s RBI fielder’s choice. He did a decent job, pitching to his old minor league battery mate Luke Montz, who also debuted for the Nats.
However his control was a bit off, expectable for a first big league start. Just 46 of his 92 pitches were strikes. “Today, I think I did pretty well. I threw five innings,” Martis said to MLB.com, “I was really excited. I had some butterflies in the first inning. After that, I had more confidence. Having Luke was very good, because we have been together for three years. We know each other pretty well.”
Manager Manny Acta was satisfied with his new starter. “I think Martis did well other than in the fifth inning when he issued all those walks to the bottom part of the lineup. But he showed some poise out there — working himself out of it. He battled and came out of it better than a lot people anticipated.”