Davis Martin's struggles expose bullpen in White Sox' walk-off loss to Guardians

CLEVELAND — The White Sox hope right-hander Davis Martin gets to pitch in the All-Star Game, but they’re not going to change their rotation to allow that to happen.

“That’s not something that we’re doing anything to adjust for,” manager Will Venable said.

After Martin’s latest stinker on the road — which resulted in a 6-5, walk-off loss to the Guardians on Thursday night — that point might be moot.

Though three relievers combined to give up a three-run lead, capped by Brayan Rocchio’s two-run homer in the ninth inning off Grant Taylor, Martin put the bullpen in a tough spot. He matched a season low with 3 ⅓ innings and failed to strike out anyone for the first time as a starter. He left with the Sox trailing 2-0.

Martin’s home-road splits are stark. In seven starts at Rate Field, he has an 0.88 ERA with a 0.951 WHIP. In 10 starts on the road, his ERA is 4.72, and his WHIP is 1.48. He allowed two earned runs, six hits and five walks to the Guardians.

That said, Martin has allowed two runs or fewer in all but four of his 17 starts — all four were on the road. And he has had a few gems on the road, such as his previous road start, when he held the Tigers to one run in six innings with only 77 pitches.

Starts like those have Martin in the conversation for the All-Star Game, which is scheduled for July 14 in Philadelphia. Rosters will be announced at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on Fox 32.

But starts like the one Thursday put him in limbo.

“It was infuriating, to be honest,” said Martin, who felt off from the start. “Just out of sync, fighting against myself, trying to make adjustments on the fly; adjustments weren’t working. Just one of those days you chalk it up to trying to limit as much damage as you can, try to go as deep as you can and try to keep your team in the game.”

The Sox walked nine in all. After throwing 16 pitches in the eighth, Taylor walked Rhys Hoskins on four pitches to start the ninth, then allowed Rocchio’s homer one out later on a first-pitch fastball that traveled 380 feet and clanged off the right-field foul pole.

“I wasn’t lining the curveball earlier,” Taylor said. “I was going to stick to my strengths. I had a good fastball, especially to lefties. So I threw a pretty good location, but he was looking for it, got a good swing off.”

“We talked about coming into this series that limiting the free passes is really No. 1 on the pitching side to beat these guys,” Venable said. “And obviously tonight with the nine walks, you’re just not going to overcome that.”

Martin entered the game ranked eighth among major-league pitchers with a 3.2 WAR, and he generally has been able to go deep into games — at least as defined by today’s standards. He has thrown at least five innings in 14 starts and at least six innings in 10 starts. But he couldn’t get past the fourth Thursday, exposing a vulnerable bullpen.

Martin would be the Sox’ first homegrown right-hander to make the All-Star Game since James Baldwin in 2000. The Sox selected Martin, a Texas Tech product, in the 14th round of the 2018 MLB Draft, making him quite a find.

But if he doesn’t get chosen for the Midsummer Classic, he can look back at his first-half road woes, which cropped up again at an inopportune time — in the opener of a four-game series against the Sox’ first-place competitors in the American League Central. With the loss, the Sox (45-41) fell back into a tie with the Guardians (46-42).

Martin didn’t face the Guardians last week at Rate Field. With two more series against them — one in August and the other in September — he figures to see them again. By then, perhaps Venable will want to adjust his rotation to ensure that Martin gets a start.