Martinez Seals Red Sox Sweep

Pedro Martinez held the lead and left Yankee Stadium a winner. Derek Jeter, of all people, was booed loudly by New York fans.

Martinez and Scott Williamson shut down the Yankees with a four-hitter, and Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer against Javier Vazquez for a 2-0 Boston victory Sunday that completed a weekend sweep in the Bronx.

With its first series sweep of New York since 1999, Boston improved to 6-1 against the Yankees for the first time since 1913 -- when the Red Sox were defending World Series champions.

“There are no statements this early,” Boston’s Kevin Millar said. “They’re going to be fine over there.”

Despite a starting lineup that included eight All-Stars, the listless Yankees have left their restless fans wondering when a record $183-million roster will justify its stratospheric salaries.

In addition to jeers for New York, chants of “Let’s Go Red Sox!” could be heard from the 55,338 in the stadium on a drizzly afternoon.

“The booing is directed at a lot of people, and it should be,” said Jeter, hitless in a career-high 25 at-bats after going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. “We haven’t played well. It shows that people care.”

Boston, which has finished second to New York for six consecutive seasons, took a 4 1/2-game lead over the Yankees -- their biggest AL East deficit since May 10, 2002.

With an 8-11 record, the Yankees are three games under .500 this late in the season for the first time since they had the same record April 22, 1997.

Martinez (3-1), using a biting breaking ball, gave up four hits, walked one and struck out seven, five of them on called third strikes.

Williamson got six consecutive outs for his first save. The last 11 Yankee batters failed to get on base.

Cleveland 3, Detroit 2 -- Jake Westbrook gave up two runs and two hits at Detroit in his first start this season and second complete game of his career.

Westbrook (1-1) retired 27 consecutive batters over his last three appearances before Detroit’s Carlos Pena homered with two outs in the second inning.

Toronto 15, Baltimore 3 -- Roy Halladay (2-3) gave up seven hits in seven innings at Baltimore, Chris Woodward had a career-high four hits, and the Blue Jays roughed up Sidney Ponson (2-1) to win consecutive games for the first time this season.

Oriole first baseman Rafael Palmeiro drove in two runs and has 1,703 runs batted in, moving him past Reggie Jackson and into 17th place on the career list.

Texas 14, Seattle 6 -- Laynce Nix, Rod Barajas and rookie Adrian Gonzalez hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning to match a team record, and the host Rangers handed the Mariners their fifth consecutive loss.

Nix also hit a leadoff homer in the fourth and had a career-high five RBIs, Kevin Mench had a homer and a triple among his career-best four hits and tied a team record with five runs scored.

Minnesota 4, Kansas City 2 -- Torii Hunter hit a three-run homer at Kansas City, Mo., in his first game since coming off the disabled list.

Hunter, in the lineup as the designated hitter, had been out since April 7 because of a strained right hamstring. In his second at-bat, he homered against Brian Anderson (1-1) to cap the Twins’ four-run third inning.

Chicago 6, Tampa Bay 5 -- Juan Uribe drew a bases-loaded walk from Lance Carter, capping a three-run rally in the ninth inning at Chicago that gave the White Sox their third victory in four games.

Pinch-hitter Kelly Dransfeldt tied the score with a two-out single against Trever Miller (0-1).

Uribe and teammate Paul Konerko homered. Aubrey Huff and Toby Hall hit home runs for the Devil Rays.