Pirates hope strong pitching vs. Reds will end skid

The Cincinnati Reds will aim for a season-high sixth consecutive victory on Tuesday night when they face the host Pittsburgh Pirates, who will attempt to snap a four-game skid.

The Reds will hand the ball to veteran right-hander Nick Martinez (2-4, 3.66 ERA), who has turned the corner in recent weeks after a rough start. He will oppose Pirates lefty Bailey Falter (2-3, 4.02) in the second game of a three-game series.

Martinez has compiled a 2.05 ERA with 21 strikeouts and only five walks over his past five starts. He has allowed two runs or fewer in four of those five outings. The hot stretch followed four starts to open the season during which he went 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA, allowing four home runs. Martinez has not yielded a home run over his past five appearances.

"I want to be a guy that's reliable," Martinez said after his most recent start, a Thursday win over the Chicago White Sox. "Somebody that gives this team a chance to win ballgames."

Martinez was having trouble navigating through opposing lineups a third time, but he has been able to do it more effectively during his recent improvement. He has pitched at least six innings in each of his past four starts. Against the White Sox, Martinez threw seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and no walks and striking out three.

Martinez, a Miami native, began his turnaround in Miami when he allowed two runs on five hits and struck out four over 5 2/3 innings on April 22. Against Pittsburgh, he is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in six career appearances, including two starts.

"In the beginning, it was really just trusting my catchers," Martinez said. "In the beginning, whoever was catching me was trying to get to know me. I was trying to see how they called the game. It's really just getting into a groove with the catchers and narrowing my focus on just executing."

Falter is coming off his shortest outing of the season, yet Pittsburgh ended that contest with a 3-0 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday. Falter gave up five walks and three hits in 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

"I was just out of my element a little bit," he said. "Five walks just can't happen."

Statistically, though, Falter has been the Pirates' best starter in May. He owns a 0.54 ERA and a .130 batting average against in his past three starts.

The Pirates have not won since Falter's last start, though. Falter has been a source of good fortune of late for the team, which has won his past two starts.

Falter has gone 0-4 with a 6.81 ERA in nine career appearances, including seven starts, against the Reds.

The trend for Pittsburgh for most of this season has been seeing its rotation deliver quality starts only to not get run support, with defensive mistakes sometimes contributing to losses. Such an instance happened on Monday night when a sixth-inning throwing error by shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa led to the Reds' go-ahead run in what ended up as a 7-1 loss.

"I want these guys to make plays. If we're going out there to play defense to not make mistakes, we're not in the frame of mind to be playing baseball," said Pirates manager Don Kelly, who was promoted from bench coach when Derek Shelton was fired earlier this month. "That's the challenge. Being in charge of the infield prior to this, that's what I want the guys to do."

--Field Level Media