NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Martinez Gives Hitters the Inside Pitch Again

No apologies. No explanations. Pedro Martinez has hit six batters already this season--he has walked only eight--and he’ll probably hit a few more.

“I’m not going to quit pitching inside. I don’t care if I hit 1,000 batters,” Martinez said Saturday after getting his first major league victory as a starter in the Montreal Expos’ 5-3 victory over the San Diego Padres at Montreal.

If so, he had better keep his boxing gloves handy.

Martinez (1-2) touched off a bench-clearing brawl for the second time this season by brushing back Derek Bell on an 0-and-2 pitch in the fifth inning. He had hit Keith Lockhart in the arm in the fourth.

In his previous start at Olympic Stadium, on April 13, Martinez took a perfect game into the eighth inning before hitting Cincinnati’s Reggie Sanders, who charged the mound.

“I don’t know what it will take, but you can’t keep hitting this many guys without someone saying something,” said Lockhart, who left the game because of a bruised right forearm.

Bell said plenty.

He glared at Martinez while umpire Tom Hallion tried to defuse the situation. Martinez struck out Bell on the next pitch, but Bell lingered around the third base coaching box before breaking for the mound.

Expo third baseman Sean Berry intercepted Bell as the benches emptied.

“This is the second time that this happens with a hitter that cannot hit the inside part of the plate,” Martinez said. “He (Bell) is going to have to turn on that fastball if he wants anyone to change their style.”

Bell was ejected from the game, and Martinez was relieved after the inning.

“I don’t mind a guy coming inside 0-2, but when you start up around the head, that’s ridiculous,” Bell said angrily.

San Francisco 1, Philadelphia 0--John Burkett gave up seven hits in 7 1/3 innings and Matt Williams hit his 10th homer for the Giants at Philadelphia.

Burkett (3-1) struck out four and walked two before being relieved by Mike Jackson in the eighth inning. Rod Beck pitched the ninth for his second save.

Curt Schilling (0-4) retired the first 12 batters in order before Williams’ homer.

Florida 4, Cincinnati 3--Gary Sheffield hit his 10th home run, tying Williams for the major league lead, at Miami.

Sheffield homered in the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie. It was his seventh homer in eight games at Joe Robbie Stadium.

Pittsburgh 2, Atlanta 1--Denny Neagle outpitched two-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux at Pittsburgh and the Pirates defeated the Braves for the fourth time in five games.

Maddux is 10-13 lifetime against the Pirates and 4-9 in Pittsburgh.

Houston 15, St. Louis 5--Jeff Bagwell and Steve Finley each homered, drove in four runs and scored three times at Houston.

Bagwell went four for five, with a double, as the Astros got 20 hits. Finley doubled, singled and tied a career high for runs batted in.