Davis Martin put two pitches at Sal Stewart’s head in the third inning at Rate Field and somehow half the internet wants a courtroom drama about his heart.
I watched the sequence. Stewart had already taken him deep in the first, a 419-foot solo shot on an 88.1 mph slider for his 26th of the year. Martin had already plunked Tyler Stephenson earlier in that same inning. Then he comes back out in the third with the White Sox up 4-3, misses high and inside near the dome, and follows it with a pitch that cracks Stewart in the helmet. Benches clear. Bullpens empty. No punches land. Home plate umpire Alan Porter does the only sane thing available and throws Martin out of the game.
Erick Fedde has to clean it up. Stewart takes his base, scores on a Eugenio Suárez sac fly to knot it at 4-4, and the Reds eventually push it to 8-4 while the clips are still cooking on every timeline. Martin walks off with 2.0 innings, three earned, ERA sitting at 4.32 after entering 9-6 with a 4.17 mark. That’s the box score. The argument is louder.
Intent Is the Dumbest Hill in Baseball
I know what you’re about to type. “He didn’t mean it.” “Control issues for months.” “Dude’s been cooked since the All-Star break.” White Sox fans and a chunk of neutrals are running that script hard right now, and I need you to hear how bad it sounds out loud.
You’re telling me your starter has been spraying baseballs for weeks, just got taken yard, already hit a guy once today, and then floated two consecutive pitches at a hitter’s skull… and the defense is that he’s bad at his job? Congrats. You just argued for the ejection harder than any Reds fan could.
Porter didn’t need a polygraph. Two at the head after a homer is automatic. Safety first is not a slogan for press conferences; it is the only standard that keeps this sport from turning into soft-toss therapy with occasional concussions. I do not care if Martin was trying to send a message or if his arm was freelancing. Location is the message. The second one hit the helmet. That’s the whole case.
The traditional media will spend the next 48 hours doing the Skip Bayless two-step: “Well, statistically speaking, hit-by-pitch rates…” Save it. Nobody watching that clip needed a spreadsheet. Stewart got drilled in the head. Martin got run. Correct call. Next.
Martin Chose the Worst Possible Version of Himself
This is the same Davis Martin who spent the first half looking like a guy chasing a 10th win and actual Cy Young whispers. Low-ERA stretch, command, actual presence. Then the bottom fell out. Recent starts have been a mess, elevated ERA in that ugly 6-plus range fans keep citing, command vanishing, the whole “what happened to that guy” arc playing out in public.
So of course the first instinct after getting jacked 419 feet is to climb the ladder twice. That’s not toughness. That’s a pitcher who has lost the plot trying to cosplay 1987. You want to pitch inside? Fine. Live there. Own the inner half. You do not get to miss up twice at a man’s temple and then hide behind “I was just pitching.”
Stewart has the reputation for a reason. Fiery. Doesn’t eat it quietly. Prior run-ins this season, including that May dust-up with the Pirates where another pitcher got tossed after an inside pitch. He’s not manufactured outrage. He got hit in the head after going deep and decided he wasn’t going to pretend it was nothing. Good. Baseball needs more of that energy, not less. The benches-clearing was mostly theater, sure, the usual slow jog from the bullpen so everybody can say they showed up. But the anger was real. That part matters.
Martin entered looking for win number 10 on a White Sox club actually playing meaningful August baseball in the AL Central. Instead he handed the Reds a free baserunner, a tying run, and a viral clip that will follow him for the rest of the year. That’s not unlucky. That’s the bill coming due for a guy who stopped throwing strikes and started throwing problems.
Stop Defending the Skull Shot
The tribalism in the replies is elite. Sox fans calling Stewart soft. Reds fans demanding a suspension before the final out. Neutrals doing the “both sides” shrug that accomplishes nothing. All of it misses the only thing that actually matters going forward.
You cannot have a sport where pitches sink toward faces and then spend three days litigating whether the pitcher “had bad intentions.” Intent is unprovable theater. Result is on video. Martin put Stewart in danger twice in one at-bat. Porter protected the field. If MLB follows with discipline, good. If they don’t, they’ll keep getting these clips until somebody gets hurt worse than a helmet shot.
I watched a first baseman full-send into a dugout earlier this year and half the discourse turned it into get-well content. Same soft instinct shows up here in reverse: protect the pitcher from accountability the second the ball finds bone. No. You throw it up there, you own what happens next.
Davis Martin got ejected because he earned it. Stewart stood there because he had to. And if your big defense is that the guy simply cannot locate anymore, you just explained why he shouldn’t be on a big-league mound with a one-run lead and a hitter who already owns him.
So tell me straight: are you actually okay with two straight at the head as long as the pitcher shrugs afterward, or are we done pretending control problems are a character reference?
