Did a ghost spook Cardinals P Carlos Martinez into a bad start vs. the Brewers?

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer


Did a ghost play a role in St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez’s poor start against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night? Why are we even asking this seemingly ridiculous question?

The Cardinals lost 11-3 to the Brewers, a game that allowed Milwaukee to take first place in the National League Central. Martinez only went four innings and gave up eight hits and seven runs. Five of those runs were earned and he walked two and struck out three.

The night before, Martinez posted a video to Instagram from the Pfister Hotel where the Cardinals were staying. He said, with a laugh, his room was haunted and there was a ghost in his room.

#lotiguereasutao @franpena26 @thebigbear13ozuna @tphamlv @ambiorixreyes06 @carloslvilloria im sorry, i can’t sleep alone tonight #ghost in my room.

A post shared by Carlos Martinez (@tsunamy0327) on Jun 20, 2018 at 8:18pm PDT

Did the haunted spirit keep Martinez up all night and prevent him from resting well before a pivotal June game? Did the ghost even travel with Martinez to Miller Park? Look at this wild pitch. We’re not saying a ghost was involved, but we’re not saying a ghost wasn’t involved either.

The game had another weird moment too. Marcell Ozuna, who was in the room with Martinez when he posted his Instagram ghost video, tried to go rob a home run. But the ball wasn’t close to being a home run and hit the bottom of the wall. This ghost argument is getting more persuasive, isn’t it?

OK, the ghost argument is still not that persuasive. Martinez’s start Thursday night was yet another one in a terrible month. His ERA has risen over one-and-a-half runs to 3.24 in June. His start on June 5 was his first in nearly a month after a trip to the disabled list.

It appears he’s still struggling with the effects of the early-season layoff.

“Every time he’s really good you feel, you sense the rhythm that he’s synched up,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said via the St. Louis Dispatch. “And if something is just a little bit off the kind of stuff that he has gets extra movement that takes him out of the zone. It’s harnessing the stuff. For stuff pitchers, that’s going to be his challenge.”

Harnessing the ghosts may help too. Better safe than sorry.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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