Martinez Stops Braves With 16 Strikeouts

Pedro Martinez threw one pitch after another past the frustrated Atlanta Braves. When he was finished, he had his best game in a brilliant season.

A career-high 16 strikeouts. A three-hitter. His second complete game. And several major league-leading marks--11 wins, 133 strikeouts and a 1.91 earned-run average.

“I felt great,” Martinez (11-1) said after pitching the Boston Red Sox to a 5-1 victory over the Braves on Friday night at Boston. “I felt I could throw it by anybody, and I did.”

He reached double digits in strikeouts for the eighth time this season, the 16th time since he joined the Red Sox before last season and the 43rd time in his career. He won his ninth consecutive game, walked two and threw only 118 pitches.

He struck out every Atlanta batter and fanned Brian Jordan four times and Gerald Williams three. He nearly struck out the side in the ninth, but Javy Lopez ended the game with a groundout on a 1-2 pitch.

“A special game,” a usually reserved Manager Jimy Williams raved. “That game is hard to top.”

The Braves agreed.

“He’s always been that dominant,” said Chipper Jones, who struck out twice. “When you have a guy with that stuff and that command of the strike zone, he’s going to put up big numbers.”

Atlanta starter Tom Glavine (3-7) also put up a big number. His seven losses lead the National League.

N.Y. Yankees 4, N.Y. Mets 3--Scott Brosius hit a seventh-inning, tiebreaking double in the opener of the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium, sending the Mets to their seventh consecutive loss.

A boisterous, sellout crowd of 56,175 saw Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada homer as the Yankees improved to 5-2 overall in three seasons of interleague play against the Mets.

In a fitting final inning between the rivals, the Mets almost rallied. But Edgardo Alfonzo’s bid for a two-run homer was caught against the wall by right fielder Paul O’Neill, and Mariano Rivera then got John Olerud on a grounder for the last out.

Jeter has reached base in all 52 Yankee games this year. He also made a superb diving catch in outplaying Rey Ordonez in a matchup of star shortstops.

San Diego 3, Seattle 2--Pinch-runner David Newhan, making his major league debut, scored the go-ahead run on John Vander Wal’s bases-loaded, broken-bat grounder in the eighth inning at San Diego.

The Mariners just missed turning an inning-ending double play on Vander Wal’s grounder, allowing Newhan to score.

Newhan and Gary Matthews Jr. were promoted from triple-A Las Vegas earlier in the day after shortstop Chris Gomez and outfielder Reggie Sanders were put on the disabled list.

Jim Leyritz opened the eighth with a walk and was replaced by Newhan, who stole second base as George Arias struck out. Jose Paniagua hit Ruben Rivera on the upper left arm, and Matthews, also making his major league debut, walked to load the bases. Vander Wal worked the count to 3-1 before his grounder forced Matthews.

Toronto 6, Montreal 2--David Wells (6-2) won for only the second time in six starts, and Homer Bush and Jose Cruz Jr. drove in two runs each at Toronto.

A crowd of only 24,147 attended the first of six games between the Canadian rivals this season. It was the lowest attendance in six games at the SkyDome between the teams.

With the Expos leading, 2-1, Tony Fernandez singled against Mike Thurman leading off the seventh. Bobby Ayala (0-5) walked Darrin Fletcher and Dave Hollins, then gave up a tying single to Cruz.

Bush’s sacrifice fly against Anthony Telford gave the Blue Jays the lead, and Shannon Stewart followed with a run-scoring single.

Toronto added two runs in the eighth on Cruz’s RBI single and right fielder Vladimir Guererro’s run-scoring error, his 11th error of the season--five more than any other major league outfielder.

Florida 10, Tampa Bay 0--Bruce Aven homered and drove in a career-high five runs at St. Petersburg, Fla., in support of knuckleballer Dennis Springer.

Preston Wilson also hit his 13th homer, tops in the majors by a rookie, as Springer (2-6) limited his former team to seven hits for his first complete game in 13 months and first shutout since July 28, 1997.

The victory was the right-hander’s first since May 7, when Aven also was Florida’s hitting star. The rookie hit a pinch-hit grand slam against the Dodgers in that game. He had a three-run homer against Ryan Rupe (1-3) in the third inning this time.

Detroit 4, St. Louis 1--Frank Catalanotto hit a two-run homer and Brian Moehler pitched seven strong innings for the Tigers at Detroit.

Mark McGwire of the Cardinals, who hit his first major league homer in Detroit in 1986 and is one of four batters to homer over the left-field roof in Tiger Stadium, was 0 for 4.

Moehler (5-5) gave up one run and four hits.

Philadelphia 9, Baltimore 5--Doug Glanville and Ron Gant each had four hits as the Phillies pounded Scott Erickson at Baltimore.

Desi Relaford drove in three runs and Mike Leiberthal had two RBIs for the Phillies, who had a season-high 18 hits. They took the lead for good by scoring four runs on five hits in the second inning.

Erickson (1-8) gave up seven runs and 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings to remain winless since May 9. His ERA is 7.11 and his eight losses are tied for most in the majors.

Houston 7, Minnesota 6--Derek Bell hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the eighth inning and Jeff Bagwell hit his 16th homer as the Astros rallied from a four-run deficit at Minneapolis.

Dennis Hocking’s first grand slam had given Minnesota a 5-1 lead in the second.

But with Houston trailing, 6-4 in the eighth, Tim Bogar squibbed an infield single against Mike Trombley (1-2) that scored Carlos Hernandez, who was running from second base on the pitch. Craig Biggio singled and Bell followed with his third hit of the game--his second double--scoring Bogar and Biggio.

Pittsburgh 6, Chicago White Sox 3--Jason Kendall broke an 11th-inning tie with a two-run single and Warren Morris followed with a three-run homer in the Pirates’ first game at Comiskey Park.

The victory was the seventh in a row for the Pirates and put them five games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 1992 season.