Cincinnati Reds Starter Nick Martinez Reflects on Tough Sixth Inning in Loss to Giants

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Nick Martinez was perfect through four innings on Sunday. He gave up a solo home run in the fifth, but it all snowballed in the sixth when Martinez allowed three runs that gave San Francisco a 4-0 lead.

"I felt good pretty much all day," Martinez said on FanDuel Sports Network after the loss. It was good until it wasn't. I made some good pitches. Even in that last inning, the leadoff double down the line was just a ground ball that got through. Lee made a nice adjustment to go the other way, and then I didn't execute my pitch against Chapman and he capitalized.

Like Martinez mentioned, there were a couple of fluke hits in the sixth inning. In fact, Matt Chapman's home run was the only hard-hit ball in the inning. Fitzgerald's double to lead off the inning had an expected batting average of just .240.

Reds' manager Terry Francona thought Martinez threw the ball great, despite the loss.

"He was matching Ray pretty much pitch for pitch," Francona said after the game. "They were both pretty good. He gave up the solo [home run]. OK. Then we gave up one. The second one hurt his line. It's not going to be reflective of how he pitched because he pretty dominant there. That was pretty good pitching."

The 34-year-old pitched six innings, giving up four runs on four hits. He walked a batter, and struck out five.

Martinez gave up just four hard-hit balls all game. Sometimes, that's just baseball.

For more on the Reds' loss to the Giants, go here.