Martinez Takes a Step Closer to Returning

Pedro Martinez threw off the mound in the Boston Red Sox bullpen before Monday’s win over the Texas Rangers, moving a step closer to returning from the disabled list.

Martinez, the American League Cy Young Award winner the past two seasons, has been out of the rotation since June 27, the day after he left a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with an inflamed rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.

He threw 50 pitches, all fastballs, including 25 from the windup and 25 from the stretch, Red Sox pitching coach Joe Kerrigan said. Martinez is scheduled to throw again Wednesday and Saturday.

“He threw very well,” Kerrigan said. “He had very good velocity pitch-to-pitch, hitting both corners. He felt real good, real strong. He’s been working the last six weeks on conditioning, and it showed.”

Martinez is on the disabled list for the third consecutive year. He was sidelined by a strained left oblique muscle last year and a sore right shoulder in 1999. He was 7-2 with a 2.26 earned-run average this year before the injury.

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Baltimore outfielder Jay Gibbons, the leading home run hitter among American League rookies, will miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his right wrist.

The Orioles placed Gibbons, a Lakewood Mayfair High and Cal State L.A. product, on the 15-day disabled list before Monday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals. He will need surgery, but the team said no date has been set.

Gibbons broke the bone swinging at a pitch in the sixth inning of Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Toronto. The Orioles initially thought the injury was a sprain, and Gibbons had been listed as day-to-day.

Gibbons was hitting .236 with 15 home runs and 36 runs batted in in 73 games.

The Orioles recalled outfielder Larry Bigbie from triple-A Rochester, three days after sending him down. In his most recent stint with the Orioles, Bigbie appeared in 10 games, hitting .455 with a home run and three RBIs.

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The Colorado Rockies traded right-handed reliever Juan Acevedo to the Florida Marlins for minor league infielder Josue Espada.

Acevedo was 0-2 with a 5.63 earned-run average in 32 innings for Colorado this season. The Rockies activated right-hander Kane Davis from the 15-day disabled list to take Acevedo’s roster spot.

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New York Yankee pitcher Orlando Hernandez allowed one run and three hits in three innings of his first minor-league rehab start for single-A Tampa. Hernandez underwent surgery June 15 to correct instability and inflammation in the second toe of his left foot, the one he lands on after releasing a pitch. . . . Detroit brought up top pitching prospect Nate Cornejo from triple-A Toledo and will start him Wednesday in Texas. Cornejo is 16-3 this season with double-A Erie and Toledo. The Tigers also activated rookie catcher Brandon Inge from the disabled list and sent him to Toledo. . . . Tampa Bay acquired minor league infielder Jason Smith from the Chicago Cubs to complete the Fred McGriff trade.