Texas Rangers stock watch: RHP Nick Martinez on the rise

Texas Rangers right-handed pitcher Nick Martinez did very well yesterday against the New York Yankees.  It was first time he had pitched since July 1, because he was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to discomfort in his left side after taking batting practice in preparations for the New York Mets series.

Martinez had early success in April and May, but once the calendar turned to June, like other Texas Rangers pitchers, he started to struggle.  Since June 4 he has give up 40 hits and 26 earned runs over 27.2 innings.

Last night he turned in an excellent performance striking out 4, only allowing 2 walks and keeping the Yankees from scoring position over 5.1 innings.   He managed to drop his 5.10 ERA down to 4.73 after his outing.

Part of the reason Nick Martinez did so well last night was because he had an excellent defense behind him.

Watch: Leonys Martin excellent juggling grab at the wall

Nick Martinez’s start on Tuesday was the first time a starter has held the opponent scoreless since Yu Darvish did it back on June 29 against the Minnesota Twins.   Between Nick Martinez and Miles Mikolas, they combined for a  total of 12.2 innings allowing only 2 earned runs.  That’s the best back-to-back start the Texas Rangers have had in a long time.

J.P. Arencibia tried to make sure all of that hard work counted by drilling in a solo home run in the top of the 13th inning.  But, Joakim Soria couldn’t hold the Yankees last night and had his second blown save of the season.

Soria is the first Texas Rangers pitcher to blow a save in the 13 inning or later since 1988.  The Rangers had to use Nick Tepesch, who pitched 3 days ago, to finish the game.  Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t contain Chase Headley and the Yankees.

Even though the Rangers lost, it was still a very good game.  Offense struggled, but the pitching was finally spot on.  And for a team that is re-tooling for 2015, it was very good to see a sharp minded and bulldog type pitcher Nick Martinez bounce back from a horrible June and injury.

Watch: Recap of last night’s game for Nick Martinez