Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros

HOUSTON – When Kevin Cash hands the ball to Nick Martinez every five days, the Rays' skipper knows what he’s going to get. “I feel like Nick’s locked in from pitch 1 to pitch 100, or whatever he gives us,” Cash said prior to Martinez’s Friday night start in Houston. The 35-year-old, who is eyeing the first All-Star Game nod of his nine-year big league career, navigated the Astros' lineup well early in Tampa Bay's 3-1 win on Friday night at Daikin Park, setting down 10 of the first 14 batters faced in his 17th start of the year. “Just the pitches -- he's got a sinker, he's got a four-seam, the changeup is almost 20 mph different than his fastball. It just keeps you off balance,” Astros manager Joe Espada said about Martinez. “We've seen him before. He's done that before against us and we couldn't get much going offensively against him or any of their guys." Martinez, who didn’t give up a hit until Cam Smith's fourth-inning liner to right field, surrendered just one run on Yordan Alvarez's 27th home run of the season while walking one and striking out three over 5 1/3 innings in the Rays' ninth straight win. “Nick Martinez was pretty masterful,” Cash said. “Even when he fell behind some guys, he made some big pitches.” Martinez has allowed three or fewer runs in 16 of his 17 starts. In 10 of those starts, he allowed one or fewer. "I’ve been feeling good,” Martinez said. “I’ve been attacking the zone. Although, tonight I didn’t do so great with my first-pitch strikes. Just one of those days I was fighting myself mechanically, the rhythm of my mechanics wasn’t great. But it was just one of those days where you just had to compete. “I was able to compete today and give us a chance to win.” With Friday’s performance, Martinez dropped his ERA to 2.12 on the road through eight starts, with 27 strikeouts and just 11 runs surrendered in 46 2/3 innings. “He’s been unbelievable,” June American League Pitcher of the Month Drew Rasmussen said of Martinez before the game. “He’s been absolutely incredible, not just his ability to limit runs, but the depth he gives us and just the quality he gives us every five days have been huge for this group.” While Martinez was shoving on the mound, Junior Caminero continued his home run barrage at the plate.