{"id":662991,"date":"2026-04-04T16:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/662991\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:08:17","slug":"rangers-chris-martin-admits-biggest-issue-driving-late-inning-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/662991\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers\u2019 Chris Martin Admits Biggest Issue Driving Late-Inning Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 Chris Martin says he knows what\u2019s missing. But it also happens to be a critical piece of his success as a reliever.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">\u201cLocate. I need to locate better,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/news\/breaking-down-edge-mlb-analyst-skip-schumaker\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas Rangers<\/a> reliever said after Friday\u2019s 5-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. \u201cI feel like it it\u2019s only thing I\u2019m really not doing right now. A lot of balls are missing middle of the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/news\/skip-schumaker-strategically-keeps-mouth-shut-rangers-spring-training-opens\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Martin\u2019s<\/a> fourth appearance of the season saw him give up a leadoff double to Spencer Steer, followed by a home run to Tyler Stephenson. It was the second time in a week in which Martin either gave up a lead or a tie in the ninth inning. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">For the guy that was supposed to share closing duties with Robert Garcia, this is not the start the 39-year-old was hoping for.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Martin\u2019s Rough Start<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">THE TYBREAKER<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tyler_Step22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Tyler_Step22<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/19if1kduhp\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/19if1kduhp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Reds\/status\/2040193541498888431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">Rangers manager<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/news\/skip-schumaker-provides-exciting-updates-rangers-lineup-configuration\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Skip Schumaker<\/a> said that Martin was throwing 95 to 96 mph and had the best stuff of any outing since the start of the season. He\u2019s not ready to turn the page yet. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">\u201cThese are the guys that we\u2019re going to go with because we think they\u2019re good, so we\u2019re going to keep throwing them out there. \u2026 I think we\u2019re all still trying to figure it out. Experience matters because they\u2019ve done it before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"74\">But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/news\/rangers-rule-5-pick-gets-memorable-moment-thanks-skip-schumaker\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Martin<\/a> hasn\u2019t really \u201cdone\u201d it before. Despite a long MLB career, he only has 16 career saves in 36 chances. Last season he only converted two saves in five chances and made 49 appearances. He missed a portion of the season with a recurring calf issue. The Rangers re-signed him to a one-year deal, and he\u2019s already appeared in four of the season\u2019s first seven games. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"77\">The results? A 1-1 record with a 13.50 ERA in 2.2 innings. The blown save in Philadelphia last Saturday wasn\u2019t entirely on him. A dropped foul ball by first baseman Jake Burger led to the tying run scoring. He also allowed two runs in mop-duty against Baltimore. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7a\">On Friday, he hung a splitter with two strikes to Steer that he doubled. The sinker he threw to Stephenson for the home run should have been up and in, but it wasn\u2019t. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7d\">\u201cMy last four outings haven\u2019t been great,\u201d Martin said. \u201c[I\u2019ve given up] a lot of hard contact. When I do get weak contact, it seems to find a hole. It just some things to battle through and get through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7g\">The question is how much more time should Martin get? The Rangers had nine different relievers with saves, but the staff converted 28 of 55 saves, barely 50% of their chances. Last year could be instructive. Luke Jackson won the closer job after being invited as a non-roster player. He lasted a month.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7j\">After Friday, Martin is likely on the clock. <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 Chris Martin says he knows what\u2019s missing. But it also happens to be a critical&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,4,149,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-662991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rangers","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-rangers","13":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116347306180747280","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}