AMERICAN LEAGUE / ROUNDUP : Martinez Can Take This Personally

With his team in the American League wild-card race, Pedro Martinez says he doesn’t worry about personal accomplishments.

But Monday was a day of personal accomplishments, as he tied his career-high with his 19th victory and added to his team record with his 14th double-digit strikeout performance as Boston defeated Kansas City, 9-1, at Boston.

“I’m not thinking 20. I’m just trying to win the game,” said Martinez, who struck out 11 in six innings as the Red Sox moved two games ahead of Oakland for the wild-card spot. Martinez (19-4) has 242 strikeouts in 171 innings.

New York 7, Oakland 4--Chuck Knoblauch hit a home run and drove in four runs at New York as the Yankees remained one game ahead of the Cleveland Indians for the best record in the American League and moved 2,000 games over .500 in their history (8,475-6,475).

The Yankees, who trailed 4-0 in the fifth inning, got four runs in the fifth and three in the eighth, with Jorge Posada drawing a walk off Jason Isringhausen to score Bernie Williams with the eventual game-decider.

Seattle 5-14, Chicago 2-6--Edgar Martinez hit a grand slam and the Mariners got 15 hits in the nightcap of their doubleheader sweep at Chicago. Martinez, who hit a two-run homer in the opener, connected for his fourth career grand slam in the eighth inning, off Bill Simas. It was the 20th home run for Martinez, who drove in seven runs in the doubleheader.

Toronto 2, Minnesota 1--Pat Hentgen (9-10) won consecutive starts for the first time since May and the Blue Jays ended a home losing streak at nine games despite getting only two hits off rookie Jason Ryan (0-2).

Tony Fernandez’s run-scoring single in the first and Tony Batista’s homer off the left-field foul pole in the second gave Hentgen all the scoring he needed.

Detroit 1, Texas 0--Brian Moehler (9-14) pitched a three-hitter for his first victory since July 23 and Gabe Kapler hit a home run at Detroit as the Tigers ended the Rangers’ win streak at four.