Carlos Martinez pitches gem on anniversary of Oscar Taveras’ debut
The St. Louis Cardinals honored the memory of Oscar Taveras before their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, which was the one-year anniversary of his major league debut.
Taveras died alongside his girlfriend in a one-car accident last October and his family was on hand at Busch Stadium as the Cardinals presented them with some keepsakes from Oscar’s time with the organization.
It just so happened that Carlos Martinez, Taveras’ best friend, was taking the mound for St. Louis. Emotions were on high, and Martinez, who now wears Taveras’ No. 18 as a personal tribute, was brought to tears by the pregame ceremony.
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“In that moment in the bullpen, I had seen too much,” Martinez said, speaking via a translator. “For a second, I thought, ‘Oh man, I don’t know if I can throw today because I’m so sad.'”
The Dodgers soon found out Martinez was going to throw and he was going to throw the ball right past them over and over again.
Martinez pitched seven shutout innings, giving up just one hit and striking out eight to power the Cardinals to a 3-1 win and improve to 5-2 on the season. The 23-year-old right-hander has now pitched 20 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings and has been a big part of St. Louis’ terrific 33-17 record.
It was a powerful performance by Martinez and especially impressive given how emotional he was minutes before the game started.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
