Martinez Doesn’t Need Much From Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox continued to struggle at the plate, but with Pedro Martinez pitching it didn’t matter.

Martinez struck out 10 in 7 2/3 innings and Troy O’Leary homered as the Boston beat the Tigers, 1-0, Tuesday night at Detroit.

The Red Sox, who failed to support Bret Saberhagen in a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay the day before, won for the third time in their last seven games.

Their support of Martinez consisted of three hits--two off Tiger rookie Jeff Weaver, who struck out five and walked two in six innings.

Martinez (3-1) gave up three hits and walked three before Rheal Cormier and Derek Lowe followed with perfect relief. Cormier and Lowe combined to strike out the side in the ninth, with Lowe getting two outs for his first save of the season.

“It was a good game,” said Martinez, who threw 130 pitches. “I was going to win with that one run or pitch all nine innings if I had to.”

New York 4, Texas 0--David Cone gave up three hits in eight innings and Paul O’Neill hit two home runs at New York to help the Yankees end a four-game losing streak.

O’Neill broke an 0-for-15 slump with a two-run home run in the first and a solo shot in the third for the Yankees, who avoided their first five-game slide since September 1997.

Cone (3-0) had no problems pitching to Jorge Posada instead of Joe Girardi, who caught 34 of Cone’s 35 starts last year. He struck out seven and permitted only six runners. Texas didn’t get a runner past second.

In three starts this season, Cone has a 0.94 earned-run average and is holding opponents to a .121 batting average. Cone left after throwing 100 pitches and Mariano Rivera completed the four-hitter.

Tampa Bay 5, Baltimore 3--The season keeps getting worse for the Orioles, as they lost to the Devil Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Scott Erickson was chased after only five outs and Baltimore lost its fourth in a row.

“I’ve got a lot of patience, but patience is getting fairly thin on the starters,” Baltimore Manager Ray Miller said after Erickson’s second straight bad start. “I don’t know what his problem was. That’s probably the worst stuff I’ve seen him have here in three years, velocity-wise.”

At 3-10, the Orioles are off to their worst start since they lost 21 straight at the start of the 1988 season. It’s the second-worst start in team history.

Erickson (0-3) gave up five runs and eight hits, raising his ERA to 12.41. In his previous start, he was tagged for eight runs--seven earned--and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings at New York.

The crowd of 17,660 was the smallest for a home game in the two-season history of the Devil Rays. The previous low was 23,059 for a game against the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 26.

Cleveland 5, Oakland 1--Bartolo Colon and three relievers combined on a three-hitter and Jim Thome homered off Kenny Rogers as the Indians beat the A’s at Cleveland.

Sandy Alomar added a two-run double in the sixth.

Chicago 3, Seattle 1--Frank Thomas hit a go-ahead double in the fifth inning and Ray Durham added a solo homer at Chicago as the White Sox beat the Mariners for their first home win in four tries this season.