For weeks, manager Joe Girardi talked about how well Russell Martin was hitting the ball only to be foiled by the misfortune of hitting it at the opposing team’s fielders.
Wednesday, Martin kept the ball away from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Girardi inserted Martin in the No. 5 hole against lefty Matt Moore, hoping to see some of those good swings manifest into big hits for the struggling Yankees.
“We’ve said all along we like his at-bats; his luck hasn’t been real good,” Girardi said. “He’s hit the ball pretty hard consistently for us, so we decided to put him there tonight.”
Martin finished 2-for-4 with three RBI, hitting a two-run double that gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead in the fourth, then belting a solo home run that put New York ahead 4-3 in the sixth.
“It feels good to find some holes every once in a while,” Martin said. “I feel like I’ve been swinging the bat better for the last couple of weeks now. Now’s the time to get hot, so hopefully I can stay that way.”
Martin finished the night at .202, the first time since June 20 that he has gone to sleep with an average over .200. The three-RBI game was his first since June 10.
“Throw the numbers out the window, man,” Nick Swisher said. “That’s not the type of player that he is. To see him having this success late in the year is great, because we need him.”