Twins Beat Martinez, Mays Gets a Shutout

Joe Mays wasn’t excited about facing Pedro Martinez for the second time in six days. But he sure pitched as if he was.

Mays threw a two-hitter as the Minnesota Twins snapped Martinez’s scoreless innings streak and beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-0, Friday night at Minneapolis.

“Our offense was definitely looking forward to facing Pedro more than I was,” Mays said.

David Ortiz and Jacque Jones homered for the Twins, who ended Martinez’s run at a career-high 35 scoreless innings--the longest shutout streak in the majors since Greg Maddux went 39 1/3 innings in 2000.

Martinez (16-3) struck out 10--including seven in a row--in his second complete game of the season. But he gave up three earned runs and eight hits to lose for the first time in 11 starts since a 2-1 defeat June 14 at Atlanta.

The right-hander was 9-0 in his previous 10 outings, and the five runs were the most he’d allowed since a no-decision May 7 at Oakland.

Martinez beat Mays 2-0 six days ago, striking out eight in eight innings.

“Joe Mays, I can’t say enough about him,” Twin Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He was up for this battle, he wanted it. This time he knew he had to shut him out, and he did it.”

Mays (2-4) carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Johnny Damon’s two-out double to right-center. The only other hit he gave up was a single by Carlos Baerga in the ninth.

Mays struck out six and walked two in his fifth career shutout and first complete game of the season. An All-Star last year, Mays spent more than three months on the disabled list this season with an elbow injury.

Minnesota reliever LaTroy Hawkins was ejected from the game for not moving his chair in the bullpen. For the first few innings, Hawkins sat in the Minnesota bullpen along the third-base line with his chair tilted away from the stands.

Umpire Tim Tschida approached Hawkins in the middle of the third inning and asked him to move his chair. But the reliever refused and Tschida eventually ejected Hawkins, who became irate and rushed Tschida before being restrained by several teammates and escorted from the field.

Texas 6, Toronto 5--Alex Rodriguez hit his 39th homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Rangers the win at Arlington, Texas. Texas left fielder Frank Catalanotto broke a bone in his right hand when he was hit by a pitch and could miss the rest of the season. Catalanotto was hit by Toronto reliever Mark Hendrickson to start the seventh inning. The Rangers said Catalanotto will be out four to six weeks.

Oakland 1, Chicago 0--Cory Lidle extended his scoreless streak to 22 innings and Jermaine Dye homered to lead the Athletics at Oakland. After nearly getting dropped from Oakland’s rotation last month, Lidle (6-9) pitched seven commanding innings and combined with three relievers on the A’s 14th shutout--their fourth in his last six starts.

Detroit 6, Baltimore 5--Randall Simon homered and drove in three runs and the Tigers overcame three home runs by the Orioles to win at Baltimore. Steve Sparks (8-11) won his third consecutive start for Detroit.

Kansas City 6, Tampa Bay 5--Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning as the Royals rallied to win at St. Petersburg, Fla. Ibanez hit his 19th homer off closer Esteban Yan (5-7).

New York 9, Seattle 3--Bernie Williams went four for four with four RBIs, including a two-run double to highlight a four-run ninth, to help the Yankees pull away for a victory at Seattle.