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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
BOSTON (AP) -- Pedro Martinez wasn't feeling in top shape. So he
actually gave up a hit.
|  | | Boston ace Pedro Martinez delivers in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park on Thursday. Pedro lowered his ERA to 0.95 with eight scoreless innings. |
Boston's ace pitched another masterpiece, allowing just Russell
Branyan's fifth-inning double in eight innings and victimizing
Cleveland again as the Red Sox beat the Indians 3-0 Thursday night.
Carl Everett broke a scoreless tie with a seventh-inning homer.
Martinez (9-2), facing the Indians for the first time since he
was ejected April 30 for hitting Roberto Alomar with a pitch, might
have been the only one who wasn't impressed with his 10-strikeout,
one-walk performance that improved his record against Cleveland to
8-0.
"What am I?" he said. "I'm only a man. I'm only a human
being. I'm not anything special."
The Indians would have as tough a time believing that as they
did hitting his pitches.
"He was a master," Omar Vizquel said. "You look at his
numbers and he does it against every team."
Martinez lowered his major league-leading ERA to 0.95 and
opponents' batting average against him to .152. That plummets to
.043 (2-for-47) with runners in scoring position. And he's allowed
an average of 4.75 hits per nine innings. Eighteen of the other 29
teams have ERAs higher than that.
He did all that after missing his previous start last Saturday
in Philadelphia with a sore oblique muscle in his left side on top
of a bout with bronchitis.
"The bronchitis is almost gone," he said. "My oblique muscle
is still concerning, but it's a lot better."
Martinez didn't throw as hard as he usually does, using 51
fastballs among his 101 pitches. In the fifth game of last year's
AL division series, he pitched six hitless innings of relief in
Cleveland after leaving Game 1 with a back injury. That win
clinched the series for Boston.
"If he owns us, he owns a lot of other teams in the league,"
Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel said.
In his previous start, Martinez pitched a complete game shutout
as Trot Nixon's homer in the ninth gave the Red Sox a 2-0 win over
the Yankees and Roger Clemens on May 28.
This time he outdueled Bartolo Colon (6-3), who allowed three
hits in his first six innings before Everett's 21st homer, and RBI
singles in the eighth by Brian Daubach and Mike Stanley.
"He's not afraid every time against Pedro," Colon said through
his interpreter, Cleveland bullpen coach Luis Isaac.
It was the first time the Indians were shut out all season as
Martinez allowed no runs for the fourth time in his last five
starts, extending his scoreless streak to 22 innings.
"You run out of superlatives sometimes when you think about the
way he pitches," Boston manager Jimy Williams said.
Martinez showed no tentativeness after being ejected on April
30, striking out five of the first 10 batters and allowing just one
runner on an error before Branyan's ground-rule double to right.
"If they don't get that, I'm not going out for the ninth inning
and he has a no-hitter," said Derek Lowe, who got his 13th save in
15 chances after allowing Cleveland's other hit, Enrique Wilson's
ninth-inning single.
Martinez was helped by a sliding catch by right fielder Nixon in
the third and a diving stop by second baseman Jeff Frye in the
fifth.
Besides Branyan, the only runners against Martinez on Thursday
were Alomar, who reached on a throwing error by catcher Jason
Varitek in the first, and Richie Sexson, who walked after Branyan
doubled in the fifth. But Martinez then fielded Einar Diaz's
grounder and stepped on first base himself to end the inning.
Alomar left the game in the third with a head contusion after
Varitek's throw hit him in the back of the helmet. He was listed as
day-to-day.
On April 30, Martinez sent Diaz sprawling with a high, inside
pitch. Cleveland's Charles Nagy then hit Jose Offerman with a
pitch. Martinez and Williams were ejected after Alomar was hit, and
Martinez was suspended for five games.
On his first at-bat Thursday, Diaz was booed loudly. He swung at
and missed the first two pitches, then flied out to center.
After Alomar reached base, Martinez retired the next 12 batters,
four on strikeouts, before Branyan's double.
Colon was nearly as stingy until Everett's homer.
After a leadoff single by Frye starting the first, Nixon struck
out and Nomar Garciaparra grounded into a double play. After a
one-out walk to Daubach in the second, Colon retired the next 10
batters, five on strikeouts.
Troy O'Leary's single broke the string with two outs in the
sixth, and he went to third on Varitek's single. But Wilton Veras
ended the inning with a popout.
Colon, who struck out nine and walked two in 7 2-3 innings,
retired the side in order in the sixth before Everett's homer.
Game notes
Martinez beat Colon 1-0 in Boston on a solo homer by Midre Cummings on July 15, 1998. ... One of Martinez's two losses was a
1-0 game May 6 against Tampa Bay in Boston. ... The Red Sox are 5-6
in their last 11 games. The Indians have lost twice in their last
seven. ... Diaz and Alomar were the only Cleveland hitters who
didn't strike out.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Cleveland Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Mets 8
Baltimore 7
Boston 3
Cleveland 0
Los Angeles 5
Houston 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Pedro Martinez says the Red Sox will be competitve if they stay helalthy. (Courtesy: WCVB)
wav: 76 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Carl Everett was waiting on the perfect pitch. (Courtesy: WCVB)
wav: 174 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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