Cardinals' Carlos Martinez: Solid tune-up for opener Monday

Martinez gave up two earned runs on three hits and two walks over five innings in Monday's 3-2 Grapefruit League win over the Astros. He struck out two.

Analysis:

Martinez picked up his third victory of spring while putting in his final work before the regular season. His troubles were limited to the first inning, when he gave up both runs on a Carlos Beltran infield single and Brian McCann sacrifice fly. The Cardinals ace then limited the Astros to one infield hit over four subsequent frames as per Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The game served as solid tune-up appearance for Martinez in anticipation of an Opening Day matchup versus a Cubs squad that he struggled against (1-3, 4.80 ERA over five starts) in 2016.