Cincinnati Reds Opening Day win highlighted by double-Martini, Frankie Montas start
The only thing better for the Cincinnati Reds on Opening Day than a parade on a sunny day and a boisterous full-house crowd at Great American Ball Park?
How about a double-Martini start to the season that left the crowd shaken and definitely stirred during a 8-2 Reds win over the Washington Nationals.
Nick Martini, the outfielder on the roster bubble most of the spring, drove in five runs with home runs in the second and third innings to back six scoreless innings of pitching from free agent starter Frankie Montas.
Martini, who was told just before the Reds broke camp in Arizona last weekend that he’d made his first career Opening Day roster in an emotional moment that manager David Bell didn’t seem to see coming for the veteran journeyman.
When Bell told Martini he was in the opening lineup as the DH?
“I didn’t wait for the reaction. I just told him and walked away,” Bell said with a smile.
A sold-out crowd of 44,030 got to see the reaction – or reactions – for themselves when Martini hit the fourth pitch he saw this season high into the right-field stands for a two-run shot and 3-0 Reds lead.
An inning later, he lined a three-run shot just over the wall in right-center to make it 7-0.
It might have been the most fitting contribution on the roster for a team that was forced to put key hitters TJ Friedl (wrist) and Matt McLain (shoulder) on the injured list to open the season – and for a lefty-hitting, 33-year-old pro who might not have made the roster without those injuries.
Montas, making his third career Opening Day start, scattered four singles across his six innings of work and didn’t walk a batter, expending just 81 pitches in the outing.
Spencer Steer, who was hit with a pitch on the face guard of his helmet during a scary moment in the eighth (he stayed in the game), drove in the first run of the season with a single to right just ahead of Martini’s first homer and doubled home another in the third.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds Opening Day win highlights Nick Martini Frankie Montas
