For Starters, Orioles Beat Red Sox

One bad inning did in Pedro Martinez, just as it did in October.

Javy Lopez homered and drove in three runs to lead the Baltimore Orioles over the Boston Red Sox, 7-2, Sunday night in Lee Mazzilli’s first game as Baltimore’s manager.

Martinez experienced an uncharacteristic lapse in control while yielding three second-inning runs.

Signed as free agents during a busy winter for the Orioles, Lopez, Rafael Palmeiro and Miguel Tejada combined to go seven for 11 with four runs batted in. Tejada also handled 12 chances perfectly at shortstop.

Martinez was the loser, giving up three runs -- two earned -- and seven hits in six innings. He struck out five, walked one and hit a batter.

It was his first appearance in a game that counted since Oct. 16, when the three-time Cy Young Award winner blew a 5-2 lead against the Yankees in Game 7 of the American League championship series, and New York went on to win, 6-5, in 11 innings.

Boston ultimately fired manager Grady Little for, among other things, leaving a tiring Martinez in too long.

Little’s successor, Terry Francona, watched the Red Sox strand 14 runners against Sidney Ponson and three relievers in temperatures that dipped into the 30s.

Ponson, the winner, gave up one run, seven hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. His solid effort backed his position as the new ace and belied his career numbers against the Red Sox coming in: 1-9 and a 6.56 earned-run average in 12 games.

There was some concern among Boston fans this spring that Martinez had lost some velocity on his fastball, but on this night the pitch was clocked frequently at 91 mph.

It was his wildness, not his fastball, that got him in trouble.

Baltimore took a 3-0 lead in the second. Lopez homered on the first pitch he saw with the Orioles, driving an 89-mph fastball into the left-field seats off Martinez.

Jay Gibbons followed with a single, and David Segui was plunked in the back with a pitch before Larry Bigbie hit a tapper in front of the plate that Martinez fielded and threw wildly to first, allowing Gibbons to score. Luis Matos then hit a run-scoring single.