It's been a while for Nick Martinez.
It's been a while since the Rangers rookie has registered a quality start — minimum of six innings, maximum of three earned runs allowed — and he'll look to do just that on Wednesday afternoon when he closes out a two-game series against the Marlins in his hometown of Miami.
Martinez, who spent nearly a month on the disabled list before returning to the fold on July 22, hasn't had a quality start since June 21 against the Angels when he threw seven innings and allowed just two runs. It's not that he's been terrible, he just hasn't been able to work deep into games, and when he has he's just given up too many runs.
In fact, in Martinez's last outing last week, he worked six innings against the Angels but allowed four runs. It was his deepest outing since that June game against the Angels, which was his deepest outing of his big-league career.
The Rangers seem to be high on Martinez's makeup and his competitive nature, as well as his stuff. They want nothing more than for the 24-year-old to push his way into rotation consideration next season, and a strong finish to the year will help him do just that.
