By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Jordan Martinez likes the heat of the late innings.
The heat of Iowa in July, well, not so much.
Martinez thrived in both in the Burlington Bees’ 4-3 win over the Alton River Dragons in Thursday’s Prospect League game at Community Field.
The Bees (22-27 overall, 12-10 second half) pulled within a game of the Quincy Gems for the Great River Division’s second-half playoff spot by surviving what could have been a nightmarish ninth inning.
Martinez got out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation by making the pitches that have made him a pitcher that Bees manager Owen Oreskovich has relied on since Martinez arrived almost two weeks ago.
“I’ve got all of the faith in J-Mar,” Oreskovich said.
Four hits and an error, with a couple of bad hops mixed in, gave Alton (18-32, 9-15) two runs in the ninth. But Martinez got Eli Young on a broken-bat grounder that was turned into a force play at home, and retired Kaden Coutts on a line-drive out to right field. Martinez then struck out Jake O’Steen on a 3-2 fastball to end the game.
“I was like, reset, refresh, start now and focus, and that’s what I did,” said Martinez, who recorded his first save.
Martinez, a right-hander from the University of New Mexico, made just five appearances this season with the Lobos, all in relief. Coming to Burlington has allowed him to settle into a late-inning bullpen role.
“I just like all of the stress, all of the pressure,” Martinez said. “It’s amazing. It’s like a rush.”
There’s also been the adjustment to the Midwest weather. The heat index was at 105 degrees when Martinez started the ninth inning.
“The weather is a lot different than in New Mexico,” said Martinez, who grew up in Albuquerque. “It’s not dry (heat).”
Martinez got the Bees out of trouble with a comebacker from Eli Hoerner to end the eighth inning, and then when Corey Boyette hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning, Burlington seemed in control.
‘That turned out to be huge, didn’t it?” Oreskovich said. “I tell them all of the time, if we’re up one, two, three runs in the late innings, get a couple of more. You always want those extra runs to feel better. I mean, it turned out we needed all of that.”
Alton’s Chase Bloomer opened the ninth with a deep fly ball to center field that Lincoln Riley couldn’t get that turned into a double.
“He makes that play nine-and-a-half times out of 10, and that was the half,” Oreskovich said.
Erik Brockmeier singled to move Bloomer to third, then Evan Evola hit what looked to be a double-play grounder, but Jaden Hackbarth couldn’t make a clean pickup. Bloomer scored on the error to cut the lead to 4-2.
Tyson Greene then hit what looked to be another double-play grounder, but it took a bad hop and sailed over second baseman Caleb Wulf’s head for a single, and Brockmeier raced home to get the River Dragons within 4-3. And when Diego Murillo reached on a single, the bases were loaded.
Then came Martinez’s escape.
“That’s a lot of unlucky stuff there,” Oreskovich said. “But J-Mar pitches at a very good school. He’s not going to let something like that affect him. I had all of the faith in the world in him.”
Young’s broken bat got Martinez in the right direction.
“That was great,” Martinez said. “Then (on Coutts’ line drive to right field), a great relay to keep the run from scoring.”
And the pitch to O’Steen?
“All gas,” Martinez said. “Two-seam fastball on the outside of the plate.”
Martinez capped a strong night of pitching for the Bees. Reece Wissinger, making his first start since joining the team late last week, allowed one hit and struck out six in four innings. Matthew Dinae (2-0) allowed one unearned run in 3 ⅔ innings.
Wissinger, a Burlington native who pitches at Southeastern College in Florida, has worked as a reliever throughout his college career.
“Reece was Reece,” Oreskovich said. “(Making him a starting pitcher) was something they were planning on doing with him next year, is what I was told. That’s why he’s out here — to get a feel for it.”
Wissinger threw 57 pitches, which was around what Oreskovich had planned.
“I was going to take him out after the third, but he said he felt amazing, and wanted one more (inning),” Oreskovich said.
ON DECK: The Bees play host to Alton in a 6:30 p.m. game on Friday. Aiden McGee (2-3) will start for the Bees.
Photo: Jordan Martinez closes out the game for the save in Thursday’s win. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
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