Martinez Strikes Out 15 for Second Straight Game

Pedro Martinez felt like he was exceptional from the start. The Seattle Mariners weren’t about to argue.

Martinez struck out 15 batters for the second game in a row and became the first seven-game winner in the majors, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 9-2 victory over the Mariners on Wednesday night at Boston.

“I had everything going,” said Martinez, who fanned at least one batter in every inning, including Ken Griffey Jr. three times.

Martinez (7-1), who matched the career strikeout high he set against the Angels last Friday, reached double digits for the sixth consecutive start--a feat only he and Randy Johnson have accomplished since 1987. He gave up two runs, four hits and one walk in eight innings.

“I just focus on my pitches and I get the strikeouts,” he said. “Sometimes I wish I could get a groundball to get a double play--or get an easy flyout.”

Martinez moved past Johnson (78) to take the major league strikeout lead with 91. Martinez, whose earned-run average is 1.81, didn’t give up a hit in the first four innings, striking out nine with a nasty changeup and an overpowering fastball before David Segui’s leadoff double in the fifth.

“He’s got the best stuff in the league,” Mariner Manager Lou Piniella said. “You can tell he’s got good stuff right from the start. You can’t give up too many runs because you’re not going to get too many chances to score. Right now he’s the best pitcher in the league.”

Nomar Garciaparra went four for five with two doubles and three runs batted in, extending his hitting streak to 15 games and raising his average to .346.

Cleveland 6, Baltimore 5--David Justice singled home two runs in the eighth inning at Cleveland as the Indians notched their 12th comeback victory of the season.

Limited to three runs in the first seven innings by Mike Mussina, the Indians scored three times in the eighth to improve to 24-9, their best start in 99 years.

Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove wasn’t around to see his club make history or three of their season-high four errors. He was ejected in the second inning.

Pinch-runner Rich Amaral was thrown out at second base for the final out as Cleveland won for the sixth time in seven games.

Oakland 2, Detroit 1--Tim Raines homered at Detroit, his first of the year, to help the A’s move above .500 for the first time since the opening week of the season.

Gil Heredia (3-2) gave up one run and three hits in seven-plus innings as Oakland finished a two-game sweep.

The A’s (18-17), who were 6-2 on their trip, are above .500 this far into a season for the first time since Aug. 1, 1996. Oakland, which hadn’t had a winning record since beating the New York Yankees on opening day, has won nine of its last 12 games.

Detroit lost its their third in a row and has scored only three runs in 31 innings. The Tigers began the night with the second-lowest batting average in the AL at .252, one point ahead of the Baltimore Orioles.

Heredia left with a 2-0 lead after giving up Karim Garcia’s leadoff double in the eighth. Doug Jones gave up a run-scoring single to Damion Easley but retired Bobby Higginson on a short fly ball and Juan Encarnacion on a groundout with a runner on third base.

Kansas City 7, Toronto 1--Kevin Appier gave up three hits at Kansas City, all to Shawn Green, and pitched his first complete game in almost two years.

Appier (4-2), the former staff ace who’s on the trading block because of his $4.8-million salary, was scrutinized by several scouts as he struck out five and walked one. He retired the last 10 batters to close out the game.

Texas at Chicago--The game between the Rangers and White Sox was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader Aug. 13.