It¡¯s safe to say Carlos Martínez was pitching with his back up against the wall Tuesday night -- or more specifically, with his spot in the rotation on the line.

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt recently discussed shaking up the rotation, and John Gant has already gotten bumped to the bullpen. With his 6.78 ERA on the season (and a 13.73 ERA in June) coming into Tuesday, Mart¨ªnez¡¯s performance against the D-backs in a 3-2 win could very well have been his last shot to show he still had it in him to be a starter in St. Louis.

And after what seemed like an endless stream of struggles over the last month, Mart¨ªnez produced the outing he needed on Tuesday. He allowed just a single run over six innings of work, producing only his second quality start since the end of May. He walked only two batters (a far cry from the seven walks he allowed to Pittsburgh last Thursday) and retired nine straight hitters in the early innings, including three-up, three-down frames in the third and fourth. As far as the most important part of his start goes, when he finally left the game after six innings and 87 pitches, he handed the ball off to the bullpen with a lead.

¡°It was timely for him and timely for us,¡± Shildt said Wednesday. ¡°We need the consistency out of our starter, and he was really terrific. He was very focused, properly focused. I loved his pace... Just in control. [If he] made a miss, [he] didn't overreact to it, just went back and made a quality pitch.¡±

It should be noted that Mart¨ªnez¡¯s performance came against the struggling D-backs. Their 22-59 record is the worst record in the Majors, 4.5 games behind the Orioles who have the second-worst mark in MLB. To continue to hold down a rotation spot, Mart¨ªnez needs to make Tuesday¡¯s outing the norm against good teams rather than an outlier that comes against bad ones.

But after answering the call against Arizona, Mart¨ªnez at least earned himself another shot to show his outing was no fluke.

¡°This is a guy that, he's not gonna back down from competition. He never has,¡± Shildt said. ¡°It's just a matter of him being consistent, to go out and do what he needs to do in between starts and on the mound that every fifth or sixth day. His preparation was good and his execution was good behind it. Now it's time to do it again.¡±

Worth noting
? Major League Baseball announced the rosters for the upcoming SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game on Wednesday, and the top two prospects in the Cardinals¡¯ organization made the cut. Matthew Liberatore (St. Louis¡¯ No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline) and Nolan Gorman (No. 2) were named to the National League roster for the Futures Game, which will take place on July 11 at Coors Field.

Liberatore -- the 16th overall pick by the Rays in the 2018 MLB Draft -- has just a 2-4 record and a 4.62 ERA in 2021, but he owns a 3.10 ERA over three seasons in the Minors. St. Louis acquired Liberatore from Tampa Bay in a January 2020 trade. Gorman -- taken by St. Louis just three picks behind Liberatore -- has a .291 average and an .867 OPS, and he hit eight home runs in June alone before he was moved up to Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday.

? Nolan Arenado holds a slight lead in the race to be named the NL¡¯s starter at third base for the All-Star Game. He¡¯s earned 36 percent of the vote as of Wednesday afternoon, just a single percentage point ahead of the Dodgers¡¯ Justin Turner.

Fans can vote for the All-Star Game at mlb.com/vote -- or on Google by searching "MLB All-Star vote" or "Vote" along with a player's name. You can vote daily on both platforms, including once per day on MLB.com. Voting ends on Thursday at 1 p.m. CT.