Reds Beat: Frankie Montas Sudden Departure Underscores Value of Nick Martinez, Brent Suter

CINCINNATI — Just 16 pitches into Sunday’s game, the Reds were reminded of the critical importance of a pitcher like Nick Martinez.

Ironically, they needed him the day before to help close out a 7-5 win over the Angels.

Fortunately for the Reds, they also have Brent Suter.

It was Suter who was called on in relief Sunday after starter Frankie Montas took a 101 mph Taylor Ward liner of the right arm and had to leave after consultation with trainer Tomas Vera and manager David Bell.

Montas tested the wounded wing by flapping his right arm but could not find relief and decided to remove himself from the game.

It was up to Suter to work his way out of the jam and he did after a two-out walk.

Suter entered and pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings, his longest outing since throwing four scoreless on Sept. 25, 2020, for Milwaukee against St. Louis.

Emilio Pagan (2-1) earned the win, pitching the fifth and sixth, and was the beneficiary of a slick around-the-horn double play started by Jeimer Candelario and turned by Santiago Espinal in the fifth.

Fernando Cruz pitched the seventh and Lucas Sims the eighth as the Reds swept away the Angels, 3-0, Sunday before 25,935 at Great American Ball Park.

Alexis Diaz pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save in as many days and his fourth overall in five chances.

On Saturday, Nick Martinez came in and threw three shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out two. It was Martinez who rescued Montas after two innings in Seattle last Monday.

Martinez gave the Reds four valuable innings, allowing one run on three hits, striking out three and walking none.

“I told them I was available that last day game day game in Seattle,” Martinez said before Sunday’s game. “That’s like a bullpen day. They didn’t use me obviously. I think ideally, if they didn’t have to set to be an emergency but I think just in a couple of days, I would have thrown a bullpen if I were in the starters routine on Day 2. I feel I can give you an inning, doing stuff like that. So I feel like I bounce back pretty quick. But again, it’s more of you know how they want to use me.”

“I just like having him on the mound and having him on the team,” Reds skipper David Bell told me. “As far as if it’s the bullpen or the rotation, it really doesn’t matter. For Nick, he has a lot of confidence as a starter. He also has a lot of confidence as a reliever.”

To Bell, there’s an even better trait that Martinez brings that goes beyond his work on the mound.

“The best part of Nick, even better than how good of a pitcher he is, he’s a great teammate,” Bell said. “He’ll do whatever it takes and he’ll do it with a smile and it’s it’s not always like that (with pitchers). So, I mean, thankfully it almost always is like that on our team. But he deserves a lot of credit. We’re approaching it that way and it’s just who he is like he just wants to win that. He knows he can help us do that.”

On Sunday, it might have been handy to have Martinez ready but Bell needed him Saturday and it was next man up time. That next man was Suter, who pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings, his longest outing since four shutout innings on Sept. 25, 2020.

Now, just as Martinez was getting accustomed to coming out of the bullpen, he may be headed right back to the rotation with Montas acknowledging after Sunday’s game it’s likely he’ll miss his next start.

Bugged again:

A day after Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand returned from their illnesses, Jonathan India and Jake Fraley were under the weather and kept out of Sunday’s lineup. Several Cincinnati players have been impacted by flu-like symptoms since the end of spring training.