Nick Martinez falters in followup to gem, Rays lose 4th of last 5 games

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Aug 18, 2026

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — Nick Martinez’s encore performance to his Aug. 11 nine-inning complete game turned out to be a mess.

With the benefit of two additional days of rest, Martinez and manager Kevin Cash said there should be no residual impact from the season-high 101-pitch outing.

But that looked to be an issue, as the Jays hit Martinez early, often and somewhat hard, scoring six runs and chasing him before he got through the fourth inning in a 10-5 Toronto win Tuesday night.

The loss was the Rays’ fourth in five games since returning from their 9-0 cross-country road trip. They dropped their American League-leading record to 75-50, and had their East division lead cut to five games as the Yankees won in Baltimore.

Martinez struck out Brett Bateman to start the game, but even the second out was concerning, as Nathan Lukes laced a 395-foot out to center.

Three of the first four Jays to put a ball in play in the first inning did so at 95 mph or higher. Alejandro Kirk topped them with a 100.8-mph blast for a two-run homer in the third.

That’s notable because Martinez typically doesn’t give up many hard-hit balls, ranking in the top 17%.

The Jays, who played themselves back into the AL wild-card race by winning 12 of their previous 18, scored two runs in five of the first seven innings.

The first six came off Martinez.

In the first, Kirk doubled with two outs, George Springer doubled and former Rays prospect Jesus Sanchez doubled. In the third, ex-Rays minor-leaguer Nathan Lukes drew a leadoff walk and Kirk homered. In the fourth, Ernie Clement and Bateman singled, with Clement scoring on an infield single by Kirk and Bateman on one of three Martinez wild pitches.

The Rays briefly made it interesting by scoring three runs in the fourth, though the Jays soon added more to their lead.

The Rays loaded the bases with one out on a trio of singles by Yandy Diaz, Ryan Vilade (hitting for Victor Mesa Jr.) and Cedric Mullins. After Richie Palacios tapped into a force out at home, the Rays got a break — one run on a wild pitch and two on a single by Taylor Walls.

The Jays added two more in the fifth off reliever Steven Matz, as Kazuma Okamoto led off with a homer and Bateman singled in Clement.

And they got two in the seventh off reliever Jesse Scholtens, as Clement singled with one out and Josh Smith homered.

The Rays got two in their eighth after loading the bases on three singles when Mullins and Palacios each delivered sac flies.

The three Rays pitchers combined to give up a season-high 17 hits.

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