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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
BOSTON (AP) -- Pedro Martinez was outstanding when he had to be,
which was just about all game.
He got his usual sparse offensive support and faced baseball's
highest scoring team. So when Magglio Ordonez's routine grounder to
shortstop Nomar Garciaparra turned into a bad-hop double in the
ninth, Martinez reached back for his best -- the fastball.
|  | | Pedro Martinez allowed six hits and walked none in pitching his third shutout of the season. |
That was good enough to strike out two of the last three batters
and give the Boston Red Sox a 1-0 win Sunday over the Chicago White
Sox.
"That shows how good he is, to sit back and stay in control
after that fluke play," Boston catcher Jason Varitek said. "He
seizes the moment. He doesn't let the moment seize him."
Martinez (11-3) struck out 15, walked none and allowed six hits
with three runners reaching second base. The last of them, Ordonez,
was stranded when Martinez fired his 131st pitch of the game past
Carlos Lee.
"It was a big test," Martinez said. "I had to battle my way
back."
He won his second straight start after a rough stretch in which
he was winless in four consecutive starts and didn't pitch in the
All-Star game because of a strained side muscle that put him on the
disabled list.
On Sunday, he silenced the bats of a team that had been
averaging 6.2 runs per game and has baseball's best record (61-37).
"For me, that's as good as it gets, pitching-wise," Red Sox
manager Jimy Williams said. "I don't think it can get any better
when you factor in the types of hitters they have. I think he
finished with a few of his best fastballs of the day."
Martinez pitched his fourth complete game and third shutout of
the season, outdueling Mike Sirotka (9-8), who got his first
complete game of the year. The White Sox were so frustrated that
after Ray Durham took a third strike in the eighth inning, manager
Jerry Manuel was ejected for questioning the call.
Then coach Von Joshua was thrown out after he spread a towel on
the top step of the dugout, indicating his view of the size of the
strike zone that umpire Brian O'Nora was giving Martinez.
"If they give me that, I guarantee I'll strike out 20,"
Martinez said.
Sirotka walked two and didn't complain about the strike zone.
"The umpire was fair to me," he said. "When Pedro had a
couple of guys at second base, he got a couple of big strikeouts.
That's why he's the best pitcher on the planet."
The only run Sirotka allowed was unearned as shortstop Jose
Valentin fielded Izzy Alcantara's grounder in the fourth and threw
it in the dugout for a two-base error. Varitek then singled in the
winning run.
"It was the only mistake of the game and it cost us," Valentin
said.
Martinez did have one problem that has plagued him all season --
a lack of offensive support. Boston has scored more than three runs
only twice and totaled just 21 runs in his last nine starts.
"His day will come," Varitek said. "He'll be able to take his
five innings and go home and we'll score a bunch of runs."
The Red Sox wasted several chances as cleanup hitter Ed Sprague
stranded five runners.
Boston threatened in the first when Brian Daubach doubled and
took third on Garciaparra's groundout. But Sprague grounded to
Valentin, ending the inning. In the third, Sprague grounded out to
shortstop again with runners at second and third and two outs.
And in the fifth, with runners at first and second, he ended the
inning with another grounder to Valentin, who flipped the ball to
second baseman Durham for the forceout.
Martinez struggled in the seventh when singles by Chris
Singleton and Lee put runners on first and second with two outs.
But Herbert Perry struck out for the third time. Singleton had two
hits and was the only Chicago player not to strike out.
Game
notes
The Red Sox designated 1B/DH Mike Stanley for assignment,
activated reliever Rod Beck from the disabled list and called up 3B
Sean Berry from Triple-A Pawtucket. They also sent pitcher John
Wasdin and first baseman-designated hitter Morgan Burkhart to
Pawtucket. ... Sirotka was 6-2 in his previous eight starts. ...
Garciaparra went 0-for-3, lowering his batting average from .395 to
.391. ... Martinez struck out at least 10 batters for the fourth
straight game. His season-high is 17... The first runner to reach
base against Martinez was Paul Konerko, who was hit by a pitch with
one out in the second.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Chi. White Sox Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
Red Sox release veteran 1B Stanley; call up Beck, Berry
RECAPS
Boston 1
Chi. White Sox 0
Detroit 12
Kansas City 9
NY Yankees 5
Tampa Bay 1
Toronto 4
Baltimore 1
Cleveland 8
Minnesota 3
Oakland 5
Anaheim 0
Texas 3
Seattle 2
Cincinnati 5
Arizona 3
Philadelphia 4
Pittsburgh 1
Chicago Cubs 5
Milwaukee 4
San Diego 6
Colorado 4
Houston 15
St. Louis 7
Montreal 7
Florida 6
Atlanta 1
NY Mets 0
Los Angeles 5
San Francisco 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Pedro Martinez says the Red Sox did not have an advantage on Sunday.
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