Expos Ride Martinez in Canadian Duel

As expected, the “battle of Canada” turned into a battle between two of baseball’s best pitchers.

Montreal’s Pedro Martinez out-dueled Toronto’s Pat Hentgen to lead the Expos to a 2-1 victory over the Blue Jays on Monday night at Toronto.

“He’s one of the nastiest right-handers I’ve ever seen,” Hentgen said. “Pedro was on top of his game, there’s no question.”

Martinez gave up only three hits over nine innings while striking out 10 in the first regular-season game between Canada’s two major-league baseball franchises. Hentgen also pitched a complete game, allowing six hits.

Martinez (10-3) went into the game with a major-league best 1.58 earned-run average, and wasted no time overpowering the Blue Jays.

Martinez retired the first 12 batters he faced before walking Carlos Delgado to lead off the fifth. Martinez took a no-hitter into the sixth before Alex Gonzalez’s lead-off single. Delgado broke Martinez’s shutout bid with a solo homer in the seventh.

The lone blemish on Hentgen’s evening was Vladimir Guerrero’s solo homer in the second. David Segui gave Montreal a 2-0 lead with a bizarre two-out RBI triple in the sixth. Toronto center fielder Otis Nixon lost the ball in the lights, allowing Mark Grudzielanek to score from first.

San Diego 15, Oakland 6--Tony Gwynn, Chris Jones and Greg Vaughn all hit three-run homers as the Padres routed the Athletics before 15,274, one of the smallest crowds in interleague play.

The smallest crowd at an interleague game was 13,351 for Florida at Detroit on June 17.

Gwynn and Vaughn had four RBIs apiece as the Padres, who batted around twice, set a season high for runs.

Andy Ashby (4-4) got the victory. Don Wengert (3-7) lost his fourth consecutive start.

Pittsburgh 3, Chicago White Sox 1--Jon Lieber (5-8) held Frank Thomas and Albert Belle hitless and struck out 10 in the Pirates’ victory at Pittsburgh.

Belle, booed every time he stepped to the plate, was 0 for 4 and struck out in each of his appearances. Thomas, who began the game as the AL’s leading hitter with a .380 average, was 0 for 2 with a sacrifice fly.

The White Sox missed a chance to gain on Cleveland in the AL Central Division.

Danny Darwin (2-6) lost his fourth in a row to remain winless since June 3.

Cincinnati 4, Milwaukee 3--Joe Oliver drove in the Reds’ first three runs and Bret Boone knocked in the go-ahead run with a groundout at Cincinnati.

Milwaukee, the American League’s worst road team, blew two leads and ultimately lost because Mike Fetters (1-4) couldn’t handle the weakest links in the Red lineup in the seventh inning.

Kent Mercker (6-5) got the victory and Jeff Shaw pitched the ninth for his 16th save.

St. Louis 2, Minnesota 1--Gary Gaetti, Minnesota’s big RBI man a decade ago, drove in the winning run with a third-inning single at St. Louis as the Cardinals beat the Twins in a series matching 1987 World Series opponents.

The Cardinals were 1-5 against the American League and were outscored, 32-17, before beating the Twins and winning for the sixth time in their last seven games.

Rookie Matt Morris (6-4), who allowed a run on nine hits in 7 1/3 innings, has been the winner in both St. Louis interleague victories. Rich Robertson (7-5) was the loser.

Florida 8, Boston 5--Aided by five unearned runs from four Red Sox errors, Alex Fernandez and the Marlins won at Boston.

The Marlins scored three runs before a batter was retired.

Tim Wakefield (3-8) helped Florida’s cause with seven walks to go with the seven hits he allowed in 6 2/3 innings.

Fernandez (9-6) allowed four runs on six hits in 7 1/3 innings to win his fourth consecutive start.

Detroit 14, N.Y. Mets 0--Bobby Higginson hit three home runs and drove in seven runs and Justin Thompson allowed four hits in eight innings in the Tigers’ rout at Detroit.

Thompson improved to 8-6 in posting his second straight solid performance. Mark Clark (6-5) saw his three-game winning streak end.

Baltimore 8, Philadelphia 1--Cal Ripken’s second grand slam of the season highlighted a six-run third inning at Baltimore and Mike Mussina (10-2) won his 100th game as the Orioles ended their four-game losing streak.

It was the seventh consecutive loss for the Phillies, who own the worst record in baseball.

Cleveland 6, Houston 4--Kevin Seitzer hit a two-run, pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning to lead Cleveland at Houston.

Seitzer, batting for reliever Jose Mesa (1-4), hit a 2-2 pitch from Tom Martin (2-2) over the left-field wall, also bringing home Pat Borders, who led off the inning with a single.

Mike Jackson pitched the ninth for his ninth save.

Chicago Cubs 8, Kansas City 7--Dave Clark’s three-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the eighth capped a five-run inning as the Cubs rallied from a 7-3 deficit at Chicago.

Rickey Bones (0-1) was the loser and Mark Pisciotta (1-0) got the victory.