ST. LOUIS -- Carlos Martinez appears to be doing just fine as a major league starter.
In fact, he could make a case as the top pitcher for baseball's best rotation after another spectacular outing in the Cardinals' 3-0 win over Milwaukee on Friday night. The St. Louis right-hander matched a career-high eight strikeouts as he kept the Brewers' bats ice cold through seven shutout innings.
"He had a very live fastball today and I thought he used his other stuff effectively, but his fastball was the story," manager Mike Matheny told reporters during the Cardinals Live postgame show on FOX Sports Midwest. "I think we even saw a strike three on a 95-mile-per-hour sinker."
After leadoff hits in the first three innings forced him to work out of trouble, Martinez settled in to retire 10 of the last 11 batters he faced. He lowered his season ERA to 1.35, with the only runs scored on three solo homers by Cincinnati.
Many wondered if Martinez could thrive as a starter after pitching mostly out of the bullpen in his first two seasons in St. Louis. A year ago, he struggled to go deep into games and posted a 4.45 ERA in seven starts as opponents hit .294.
Particularly in his first two starts this season, Martinez showed significant improvement in his ability to mix his pitches and not always throw his fastball at maximum velocity. It's helped him last at least six innings every time out, and opponents are hitting just .159 against him, easily the best mark among St. Louis starters.
Not bad for a pitcher who was in a heated competition to make the rotation when spring training began.
3 UP
• J-Hey homers. Jason Heyward showed off his strength with an opposite-field home run in the third off Milwaukee's Matt Garza.
The right fielder hit just two of his 11 home runs to left a year ago, compared with four of 14 in 2013. He crushed a pitch to right-center at Busch Stadium for his first home run of the season in last week's 5-2 win over Cincinnati.
Watch the Cardinals Live pregame and postgame shows before and after every St. Louis Cardinals game on FOX Sports Midwest.
• Peralta power. Jhonny Peralta's solo home run highlighted a 3-for-4 day for the Cardinals' shortstop. Peralta has at least one hit in 13 of his first 15 games and is tied with Yadier Molina for second on the team with eight RBIs.
• 8-9 punch. Jordan Walden and Trevor Rosenthal continue to look nearly unhittable at the end of games for the best pitching staff in baseball.
Walden made his 11th appearance in 15 games and struck out two batters during a scoreless eighth to lower his ERA to 0.96. The ninth inning brings even more velocity, and Rosenthal sat the Brewers down in order to record his seventh save in seven chances while lowering his ERA to 1.04.
3 DOWN
• Yadi hurt. Cardinals fans endured a scare when a foul tip hit Molina in the fourth inning and he didn't return for the fifth.
The six-time All-Star catcher, unquestionably St. Louis' most irreplaceable player, took a foul ball to the top of his knee off the bat of Aramis Ramirez. Molina told reporters on the Cardinals Live postgame show his knee felt too tight for him to squat, but he's hopeful he'll be able to play Saturday night.
"Last week I got hit by a foul ball by the same guy," Molina said. "I was feeling better this morning. I was like, 'OK, my knee feels better' and boom, he hit it tonight again, the same spot."
• Brewers' baserunning. A pair of awful decisions on the basepaths by Garza and Ryan Braun derailed Milwaukee's best scoring opportunities.
Braun got thrown out at second on a bizarre double play when he tried to advance on Kolten Wong's errant throw into the infield after a deep flyball to Jon Jay in center. Garza got caught leading too far off second base with no outs, which is always a bad idea with Molina behind the plate.
• Empty first. Garza retired all three Cardinals batters in the first inning. That's not really much of a negative, but it stood out because no opposing starter had managed to begin his outing by retiring both leadoff man Matt Carpenter and No. 3 hitter Matt Holliday in the past nine games.
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
