CINCINNATI — Chicago White Sox starter Davis Martin got Cincinnati Reds superstar shortstop Elly De La Cruz to hit a grounder to second baseman Lenyn Sosa on the first pitch of the fourth inning.
Martin needed five pitches to strike out Austin Hays looking. And then Martin retired Spencer Steer on a popup to catcher Edgar Quero on the third pitch of that at-bat.
The nine-pitch inning came during a stretch when Martin retired nine of 10 batters.
The right-hander was locked in, allowing one run over a career-high 6 2/3 innings to lead the Sox to a 4-2 victory in front of 43,585 on Wednesday at Great American Ball Park.
“I think we did a really good job of mixing the fastball and the slider to the away rail,” Martin said. “Bringing the sinker back was really good. Just kind of mixing and matching against this really good lineup that controls the zone really well. The goal of the start was just to be aggressive in the zone and that’s where we were.”
Martin scattered seven hits, struck out five and did not surrender a walk, helping the Sox extend their winning streak to a season-high three games. They’ve won four of five.
“We talked about it even last outing — the grit of the team,” Martin said. “We’re not going to give up. We’re going to put good (at-bats) together. We’re going to do stuff well. We weren’t closing. We weren’t finishing the game off, playing defense or whatever it is, starter or pitchers giving up runs in the first or whatever it may be.
“We just couldn’t put it all together and the process, we just trusted it and this is the result of that. I think we’re just executing in those situations we need to execute in.”
By winning the first two games against the Reds, the Sox (14-29) have secured their first road series victory of the season. After taking two of three from the Miami Marlins over the weekend at Rate Field, the Sox have now won consecutive series for the first time this season.
“This whole season we’ve been taking this thing day by day, and so certainly, back-to-back series, and a road series win is huge,” manager Will Venable said. “At the same time, these guys are going to show up tomorrow (for the series finale) not thinking about that. We’re going to go do our best to win a game. But it’s nice for these guys, as hard as they’re working, to get positive results.”
Wednesday’s offensive contributions included solo home runs by Sosa and Michael A. Taylor. Sosa and Luis Robert Jr. each had two hits. Robert stole one base, scored one run and had one RBI.
Sosa has four hits in the first two games of the series.
“Just being more patient, and trying to do damage to the pitches that are in the middle of the zone,” Sosa said through an interpreter.
Robert singled, stole second and scored on a double by Andrew Vaughn for the game’s first run in the second inning. Robert knocked in Chase Meidroth with a two-out single in the fifth.
Sosa homered to right-center with one out in the sixth. Taylor led off the seventh with a home run, giving the Sox a 4-0 lead.
“I’m just trying to stay on the fastball right there,” Taylor said. “I know (reliever Scott Barlow) throws a lot of breaking balls and sweepers. Just get something up in the zone.”
Martin went back out for the seventh with the four-run lead. He knew he was in the running for the longest outing of his career. His previous high was six innings, which he had accomplished eight times.
He began the seventh by giving up a home run to Steer. Jose Trevino followed with a single.
“After those first two batters (of the seventh), I was like ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go out for the seventh inning ever again,’” Martin said.
Martin rebounded with two flyouts and then gave way to reliever Jordan Leasure, who struck out Rece Hinds to end the inning.
“Made some adjustments, got two outs, Leasure picked me up at the end,” Martin said. “It was a really good learning experience. The more we get in those situations, the more you’re going to learn from going through the lineup, so it was really good.”
The Reds scored once in the eighth against Brandon Eisert, making it 4-2. The Sox called on Mike Vasil for the ninth. And after allowing a one-out walk, he retired the next two hitters to record his first major-league save.
“I now know why those guys (closers) get paid a lot, because my heart was beating probably a thousand beats per minute,” Vasil said. “But very, very exciting. More importantly, the team won, series win, playing really well lately. So all that stuff together is very, very important.”
