Martinez, Gordon Combine for Two-Hitter

With Pedro Martinez on top of his game and Tom Gordon warming up in the bullpen, Boston Red Sox Manager Jimy Williams couldn’t go wrong.

The way Martinez was pitching, allowing only one hit in eight innings Sunday, he seemed like a good bet to finish a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Instead, Williams turned to Gordon, who worked the ninth to complete a two-hitter and get his 23rd save in 24 chances.

“That’s his job,” Williams said of the Red Sox closer, who picked up three saves during the four-game series.

“We pushed Pedro a little bit in his last start, but to me it was worth it,” Williams said, referring to a seven-inning stint in Chicago that followed consecutive outings in which Martinez gave up six runs.

“He was at 120 pitches today. We’ve got to protect our starters the best way we can, and certainly Gordon’s an outstanding closer. That’s his job. He likes that job, and he’s been very good at it for us.”

Martinez (9-2) struck out six and walked two. The right-hander, who pitched a two-hitter against Seattle in April, regrouped after Miguel Cairo’s triple in the fifth inning to retire the last 11 batters he faced.

“It was my only mistake in the game,” Martinez said. “It was a hanging breaking ball. I threw a good one the previous one, then I hang one and I give up the base hit. That’s all it takes for you to win or lose a game.”

Lou Merloni drove in two runs with a double off rookie Jason Johnson (2-4) and Nomar Garciaparra hit his 10th homer as the Red Sox won for the ninth time in 11 games.

Cairo tripled to left-center with one out in the fifth inning to drive in Paul Sorrento, who had drawn the second walk off Martinez.

“He’s nasty, but he hung the curve ball,” Cairo said. “I just saw the ball and reacted.”

Kansas City 6, Detroit 5--Jeff Conine hit a three-run double at Detroit and Hipolito Pichardo won his first game since May 5.

Larry Sutton homered and had three RBIs for the Royals, who have won seven of 10. They took three of four in Detroit to win three consecutive series for the first time since September 1996.

Pichardo (3-6) gave up four runs and five hits in six innings. He retired the last 11 he faced after Tony Clark and Luis Gonzalez hit back-to-back homers in the third.

The Tigers closed to within a run on Gonzalez’s RBI single in the eighth inning, but Jeff Montgomery pitched the ninth for his 14th save.

Toronto 7, Baltimore 3--Ed Sprague hit two homers and Pat Hentgen pitched seven gritty innings at Baltimore to earn his first victory since May 25.

Sprague went three for three with a walk and drove in a season-high four runs, giving him 400 RBIs for his career. Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado also homered to help the Blue Jays gain a split of the four-game series.

Hentgen (8-4) threw 128 pitches, allowing eight hits and walking four. The right-hander, who struck out seven and did not have a 1-2-3 inning, was 0-1 in his previous four starts.

Minnesota 6, Chicago 1--Mike Morgan took a shutout into the ninth inning and Brent Gates hit his first career grand slam at Chicago.

Morgan (4-2) was three outs away from his first shutout in nearly five years when Mike Caruso homered on the right-hander’s first pitch. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out one. His last shutout came with the Cubs in 1993 against Colorado.

Magglio Ordonez and Chad Kreuter hit back-to-back singles in the White Sox third inning and Wil Cordero led off the fifth with a single for the only hits off Morgan.

Dan Naulty replaced Morgan and loaded the bases with two outs on a pair of walks and a single. Hector Carrasco then got Ordonez on a comebacker for his first save since June 1995.

Gates connected with two outs in the fourth inning for only his second homer this year.

Seattle 10, Oakland 5--Rico Rossy came up from the minors and hit his first homer in nearly five years to lead the Mariners at Seattle.

Edgar Martinez added a two-run homer as the Mariners scored four times in the fifth inning off Mike Oquist (4-4) to take the lead and help Bill Swift (7-4) become the winningest pitcher on Seattle’s staff.

The last-place Mariners, 5-15 in June, won their first series since May 28-31. Seattle won for only the second time in eight games despite making three errors.

Alex Rodriguez went four for five and scored twice for the Mariners.