Martinez Says He Will Pitch

Pitcher Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox said Tuesday that he could take his regular turn this weekend against the Texas Rangers after pulling himself out of Monday night’s 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays because of a stiff shoulder.

Martinez, the American League strikeout leader, left the game in the fourth inning, his shortest start of the season.

He said he felt fine while throwing between starts in Texas, where Boston wrapped up a three-game series Sunday. He added that he was surprised when the shoulder felt stiff as he stretched before Monday’s game at Fenway Park.

“I gave one inning, two innings,” he said. “The third inning it got a little tighter and then the fourth inning I couldn’t even throw the ball. So I just said, ‘No, I’m coming out.’ It was my decision.”

Martinez is 13-4 with a 1.59 earned-run average and 210 strikeouts.

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Montreal Expo right-hander Hideki Irabu will undergo surgery today to remove bone spurs from his pitching elbow, probably ending his season.

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Detroit Tiger General Manager Randy Smith said he is probably going to set a deadline for Juan Gonzalez to let the Tigers know his decision about his free-agent future.

The outfielder turned down a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal from the Tigers in the spring and also refused a trade to the New York Yankees in June because the Yankees would offer him only a one-year deal worth $12.5 million.

“Maybe we’ll say, ‘We’ve got to have an answer right now.’ We have to move on,” Smith was quoted in the Detroit Free Press. “If we haven’t gotten a response and we get a commitment from someone else, we say, ‘I’m sorry.’ . . . We can’t just wait for an answer.”

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The Arizona Diamondbacks recently borrowed $20 million to meet operating expenses, a loan that had to be co-signed by Major League Baseball, the Arizona Republic reported.

The club has faced a cash shortage in each of its three years of existence. The team asked for and got $29 million from its 29 limited partners during its first season in 1998, then $24 million from 24 of the partners late last season.

The team was expecting a boost in attendance after winning the National League West title last season but it hasn’t materialized.

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Arizona pitcher Geraldo Guzman suffered a mildly sprained left knee while stepping on a ball in Tuesday night’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies and had to exit in the fifth inning. . . . Texas pitcher Ryan Glynn was put on the 15-day disabled list.