Red Sox’s Chris Martin Continues ‘Ridiculous’ Bullpen Stretch

The Boston Red Sox struck gold in signing Chris Martin this past offseason.

Added in order to help boost Boston’s bullpen, Martin continues to surge as one of the most dominant relief arms in Major League Baseball. That on-brand elite reliance that he’s provided throughout the season helped the Red Sox defeat the Nationals in Washington, taking a tight contest to open up a 10-game road trip on Tuesday night.

Martin delivered a scoreless seventh inning against the Nationals, which again, is quickly becoming expected from the right-hander.

“He’s on just a ridiculous stretch. That’s about the only way that I could put it,” Josh Winckowski told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “What he’s doing every time he’s called on to pitch. … It’s automatic. He throws strikes at an elite level and it’d probably be hard to find anyone in the big leagues with less walks than him, especially if you take out — I know he has a couple of intentional walks — you have to take those out. I think he leads the league, I’d imagine.”

The last 25 appearances out of the bullpen from Martin, in particular, are indeed ridiculous.

Martin has a 2-0 record with an 0.40 ERA, a 0.97 WHIP and 21 strikeouts in his last 22 2/3 innings pitched for the Red Sox, dating back to June 9. That’s over three months worth of bullpen calls in which Martin has surrendered just one earned run — the definition of reliability and as automatic as one could be.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora acknowledged Boston’s bullpen entirely, comparing it to that of the 2018 World Series-winning relievers crew from five seasons ago.

Most importantly, and in-part thanks to Martin’s efforts, the Red Sox sit just three games from an American League wild-card spot following Tuesday night’s win.