Martinez Triumphs in Return

Pedro Martinez, who didn’t feel exactly right after not starting for 10 days, was still good enough to dominate the Texas Rangers.

Martinez scattered five hits in seven innings Tuesday night in his first start since April 15 as the Red Sox defeated the Rangers, 6-3, at Arlington, Texas, giving the Cy Young Award winner his 12th consecutive victory.

“I didn’t feel like I would like to. I battled my way around to get the team to win the game,� Martinez said. “I felt exhausted in the third inning. When I kept pitching, I felt better.�

Martinez (4-0) is undefeated since last Aug. 19, when he lost to the Oakland Athletics and Tim Hudson. In his last start, Martinez beat Hudson and the A’s to extend a winning streak that includes two victories during the 1999 playoffs.

“Anybody would love it, especially if it’s winning,� Martinez said of the streak. “But it’s nothing. We just have to keep winning as much as we can as a team and forget about the individual achievement.�

Even though he didn’t feel right and hadn’t been on the mound in more than a week because of rainouts, Martinez struck out eight and 68 of his 103 pitches were strikes.

He took the AL lead in strikeouts from Cleveland’s Chuck Finley (40-35) while walking just one and hitting a batter.

Texas managed two runs without getting the ball out of the infield in the second, and got their only other run on Ruben Mateo’s solo homer in the sixth. Derek Lowe got the last six outs for his fourth save.

Martinez was scheduled to start last Thursday against Detroit, but that was the first of four straight Boston games that were rained out. He threw some off the mound Sunday after a game against Cleveland was washed out.

“He had nine days off, that was enough,� Boston Manager Jimy Williams said. “He pitched good, he didn’t try to overthrow. He had a good throwing session Sunday to get physically and mentally ready to come back to the mound to pitch.�

Kansas City 7, Tampa Bay 6--Albie Lopez threw wildly to second on a grounder to the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning at Kansas City, Mo., allowing the Royals to end a nine-game losing streak.

With runners on first and second and one out in a 6-6 game, Mark Quinn hit a slow roller that could have resulted in a double play. But Lopez (1-1) threw the ball low and second baseman Miguel Cairo couldn’t handle it, allowing Carlos Beltran to score the winning run.

Baltimore 12, Chicago 6--Delino DeShields reached base five consecutive times and the Orioles used a six-run third inning at Chicago to end the White Sox’s six-game winning streak.

DeShields had a double, two singles, two walks and three RBIs, and Rich Amaral keyed the Orioles’ big inning with a two-run triple. Baltimore also benefited from 12 walks.

Oakland 11, Toronto 2--Tim Hudson gave up two hits in seven innings and Ben Grieve homered and had four RBIs at Oakland.

Terrence Long, recalled Monday from triple-A Sacramento, had three hits, including his first major league homer, and Matt Stairs added a two-run double for the A’s.

Seattle 8, Cleveland 5--Jay Buhner and John Olerud homered as the Mariners rallied from a four-run deficit at Seattle.

Manny Ramirez had three RBIs in the first two innings for the Indians.

But in the bottom of the second, Buhner hit a shot into the second deck in left field for a three-run homer.

With two outs in the third, Olerud tied the score at 4-4 with a 405-foot homer against Charles Nagy (1-3). An RBI triple by Stan Javier and a run-scoring single by Alex Rodriguez put the Mariners ahead in the fifth.

Pat Rapp (3-0) gave up eight hits and five runs in five innings.