Top-notch Martinez anchoring Cards’ rotation

MILWAUKEE — The Cardinals are not pitching as well as they usually do, except for Carlos Martinez, who is better than ever.

After Monday night’s 6-5 victory over the Brewers, the Cardinals had a team ERA of 4.02. That would be their highest ERA since 2008, when they finished at 4.19.

Not at all coincidentally, the 2008 Cardinals finished fourth in what was then a six-team NL Central. It was their worst finish of this century.

The good news Monday night was that Martinez pitched. The rebuilding Brewers were no match for him, scoring only one run against him in six innings. But with the stuff he had, nobody else would have beaten him, either. He struck out a career-high 13 in those six innings. Was that important to him?

“Yes, it’s important to me, but I want to stay focused,” Martinez said. “What is most important to me is throwing a complete game and getting a win for my team. What’s most important is how long I stay in the game, not how many people I strike out.”

Martinez said he focused on throwing his breaking ball. He had a very effective slider. Then again, he was also hitting 98 mph with his four-seam fastball.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny described Martinez’s Monday night stuff as “high-octane.” The only problem with this performance was a two-walk second inning that drove Martinez’s pitch count to 42 after two innings, thus limiting his chances to go deeper than six innings.

“That’s tracking for a short …

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