Indians Back Red Sox Into Corner

It could have been the chilly weather, or perhaps the burden of carrying his team and all of New England’s playoff hopes on his shoulders finally wore down Boston Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez.

Baseball’s best pitcher left Wednesday night’s game after four innings because of a strained muscle in his back, and the Cleveland Indians pounced on Boston’s bullpen for a 3-2 come-from-behind victory in Game 1 of the American League division series.

A Jacobs Field crowd of 45,182 saw Jim Thome tie the game with a two-run homer in the sixth, and the Indians won it on Travis Fryman’s bases-loaded single in the ninth.

Though he didn’t get the victory, Cleveland right-hander Bartolo Colon was superb, giving up two runs on five hits and striking out 11 in eight innings, his last fastball to strike out Jason Varitek registering 99 mph.

A victory by Martinez seemed like a given, considering how dominant the right-hander has been, but with Bret Saberhagen, who admitted his surgically repaired right shoulder “is not 100%,” and Kent Mercker scheduled to start Games 2 and 3, and Martinez questionable, the Red Sox look extremely vulnerable.

To everyone but Martinez, that is.

“You guys, don’t scare our fans now, because I’ll be back in the house very soon,” Martinez told writers afterward. “These guys are going to be OK. They can do it with or without me.”

Martinez had a three-hit shutout and a 2-0 lead, courtesy of Nomar Garciaparra’s homer in the second and Mike Stanley’s RBI single in the fourth, when he felt a burning sensation after striking out Thome with a fastball to start the fourth.

Martinez got Harold Baines to pop out and David Justice to ground out, but there was a 10 mph-dropoff on his fastball, and he told Manager Jimy Williams he felt discomfort in the middle of his back.

“He never says anything,” Williams said, “so for him to say something we knew it meant something was wrong.”

When Boston took the field in the fifth, Indian shortstop Omar Vizquel told teammates the Red Sox had a new pitcher.

“I thought he was joking around to kind of lighten the guys up a little bit,” Fryman said. “I looked out there and saw [reliever Derek] Lowe walking in, and it was like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance to get back in the game.’

“When you see him come out of the game, it gives you a greater sense of confidence that you can win. . . . It was a big pick-me-up for our club.”

The hearts of Red Sox fans, meanwhile, did a collective free fall when Martinez exited, and Boston’s lead disappeared within a two-pitch span in the sixth.

With two out, Red Sox third baseman John Valentin, who missed much of September because of a knee injury, threw a one-hopper to first on Manny Ramirez’s grounder, and Stanley couldn’t dig it out.

Thome drilled Lowe’s next pitch an estimated 434 feet into the right-center field bleachers for a two-run homer, only the second hit Lowe had allowed Cleveland in 36 at-bats this season.

It was Thome’s 13th career postseason homer, tying him with Ramirez for fourth on baseball’s all-time list.

That was the only hit Lowe gave up in four innings, but the right-hander hit Ramirez with a pitch to start the ninth. Williams pulled Lowe for left-hander Rheal Cormier, who got Thome to fly out and gave up a single to pinch-hitter Wil Cordero.

Richie Sexson came out to hit for David Justice, and Williams countered with right-hander Rich Garces, who walked Sexson on four pitches to load the bases.

Fryman, who missed half of the season because of a knee injury and is playing with such a bulky brace that Indian catcher Sandy Alomar calls him “Robo third baseman,” then lined a clean single to left.

That snapped an eight-game string in which the Indians had lost the opening game of a playoff series and extended Boston’s postseason misery--since they lost Game 6 of the 1986 World Series to the Mets on Bill Buckner’s infamous error, the Red Sox are 1-18 in the playoffs.

If they are to improve on that mark, they’ll have to do it without Martinez.

“It’s going to be tough, but the thing about this game is it’s very unpredictable,” Lowe said. “Cleveland’s not going to feel sorry for us. We have to find a way to win three games.”