Martinez Again Outduels Halladay

For the second time in a month, Pedro Martinez defeated Roy Halladay in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners.

Martinez retired 15 of his first 17 batters, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 4-2 victory Tuesday night at Toronto, their fourth victory in five games.

Martinez (2-1) struck out six in seven innings, giving up two runs and five hits. He also defeated Halladay (1-3) on April 10 at Boston.

“I felt a lot better inside here than last time,” said Martinez, who gave up seven earned runs against Baltimore last Thursday. “I felt loose and didn’t have a hard time warming up. I had my normal routine back, and that was the difference.”

Toronto reliever Terry Adams nearly hit Manny Ramirez in the head in the eighth inning, and the Boston slugger walked out from the plate as the benches emptied, but things quickly settled down.

“The first thing the umpire said was it wasn’t on purpose,” Boston Manager Terry Francona said. “It wasn’t guys looking to go to fight. These guys are competitive, and Manny just reacted.”

Toronto lost its fourth straight and dropped to 3-10, matching its worst start (1981). The Blue Jays are 0-7 at SkyDome -- the first major league team to lose its first seven home games since the 1997 Chicago Cubs.

New York 11, Chicago 8 -- Struggling Alex Rodriguez got his team going with an unlikely hit -- a bunt single -- and the Yankees scored seven first-inning runs at Chicago.

Rodriguez went three for six and improved his average from .160 to .196 with his second multihit game, his previous one coming on April 14 against Tampa Bay.

Minnesota 6, Detroit 4 -- Lew Ford, Michael Ryan and Nick Punto each drove in two runs at Minneapolis to lead the Twins to their sixth consecutive victory.

Baltimore 9, Tampa Bay 1 -- Sidney Ponson (2-0) needed only 88 pitches in limiting the Devil Rays to four hits at Baltimore as the Orioles won their fifth game in a row.

Kansas City 15, Cleveland 5 -- Matt Stairs hit the eighth grand slam of his career and tied his career high with six RBIs to lead the Royals at Cleveland.

Seattle 2, Oakland 1 -- Raul Ibanez homered to tie the score in the seventh and homered in the ninth to give the Mariners the win at Seattle.