Martinez at Worst Still Beats A’s

Pedro Martinez had his worst game of the season and it wasn’t that bad.

The Boston Red Sox batters had their best game of the season and it was good enough for a 9-3 victory Saturday over the Oakland Athletics at Boston.

“I just feel like I have to go out there and knock them out as soon as I see three runs on the board,” Martinez said after the Red Sox had a season-high 19 hits. “I feel like it’s my game.”

Martinez (5-0) struck out 12 while pitching seven innings of three-hit ball, but the three earned runs he gave up were the most he has given up all season. All came on Jason Giambi’s sixth-inning homer--the first home run Martinez has given up this season.

“We got three off him,” A’s Manager Art Howe said, “more than most get.”

But the Red Sox got 13 against A’s starter Gil Heredia (2-5), who gave up seven runs.

Trot Nixon went four for five with a homer, and Jose Offerman, Carl Everett and Dante Bichette each had three hits. The Red Sox ended Oakland’s winning streak at four.

Manny Ramirez also had a 468-foot homer that was heading foul before it curved fair and landed on the parking garage across the street.

New York 8, Baltimore 5--Derek Jeter, at ease after his sister’s recovery from Hodgkin’s disease, hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the eighth inning for the Yankees at New York.

David Justice and Bernie Williams also homered for the Yankees, who beat the Orioles for the sixth consecutive time this season and improved to 15-0 against teams under .500.

Sharlee Jeter, 21, completed chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s disease Friday--an emotional trauma Jeter had kept private from most of his teammates.

Seattle 11, Toronto 7--Ichiro Suzuki, who extended his hitting streak to 18 games, and Edgar Martinez each had four hits at Toronto to help the Mariners to their fourth consecutive victory.

Suzuki, a seven-time batting champion in Japan, had a triple, double and two singles for his third four-hit game of the season, which raised his average to .351. He leads the majors with 59 hits.

Martinez hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning as the Mariners sent the Blue Jays to their fifth loss in a row. He drove in three runs.

Cleveland 8, Tampa Bay 0--Chuck Finley, who missed his scheduled start a night earlier because of a stiff neck, struck out a season-high 11 in seven shutout innings to lead the Indians at Cleveland.

Finley (4-2) gave up seven hits, walked one and improved to 6-0 in seven starts against the Devil Rays.

Texas 16, Chicago 6--Alex Rodriguez hit his 200th and 201st homers and drove in six runs at Chicago to help the Rangers end a six-game losing streak.

Rodriguez hit a two-run homer and teammates Gabe Kapler and Ken Caminiti also connected in a five-run first inning.

Rodriguez added a three-run homer to cap a five-run ninth. He also hit a run-scoring single in his second six-RBI game of the season.

At 25 years and 289 days, Rodriguez became the fifth-youngest player in major league history to reach 200 home runs. Mel Ott reached 200 homers the quickest in 1934 at 25 years and 144 days.

Kansas City 12, Minnesota 4--Joe Randa was five for six with three doubles at Minneapolis as the Royals dealt Brad Radke his first loss in eight starts.

Radke (6-1) left after 4 1/3 innings with the Twins trailing, 5-3. He had pitched at least seven innings in his previous starts this season.