Martinez Flashes Signs of Old Self in Victory

Pedro Martinez outpitched David Wells and managed to stay around long enough to defeat San Diego.

Martinez threw eight innings of two-hit ball, and Johnny Damon doubled in a run after Wells was lifted from a scoreless game Tuesday night to give the Boston Red Sox a 1-0 victory over the Padres.

It was the first 1-0 game at Fenway since Mike Mussina came within one out of a perfect game in a Yankee victory on Sept. 2, 2001. Boston’s last 1-0 victory was almost four years ago.

“We don’t get to see too many of those,” Damon said. “We’d love to score more runs and pad our stats a little. These games aren’t great for the hitters, but they’re great for the pitchers.”

Martinez (6-3) rebounded from an 11-hit, seven-run outing with his best game so far this year, putting up a season high in innings and a season low in hits given up. He struck out eight, walked one and hit a batter; only one Padre reached third base against him -- Terrence Long after his fifth-inning double.

“It was fun,” Martinez said after beating the Padres in their first visit to Fenway Park. “That was a team that had a lot of strangers there, and I didn’t know what to expect. But it was fun to actually give the fans what they expect.”

No one was sure what to expect from Wells, who was returning from a freak household accident that put him on the disabled list May 18. He pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings, giving up six hits and striking out two. Wells shook his head and was surprised when Manager Bruce Bochy took him out after 81 pitches.

“I still felt strong, but he told me, ‘It’s been a while. I don’t want to burn you out,’ ” Wells said. “I can understand where he’s coming from. But you get caught up in the moment.”

Bochy wasn’t surprised that Wells lobbied to stay in.

“He’s always going to say he’s fine. That’s the type of competitor he is,” Bochy said. “It was the right thing to do.”

Keith Foulke pitched the ninth inning for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.

David Ortiz and Jason Varitek singled off Wells in the sixth, but Antonio Osuna (1-1) got Kevin Millar on a flyout to right to end the inning.

In the seventh, Gabe Kapler hit a one-out double, then moved to third on Brian Daubach’s fly ball. Akinori Otsuka gave up a double down the right-field line to Damon for the only run.

Osuna gave up one run and one hit in one inning.

Kapler also singled in the second, and Ortiz also had two hits for Boston. He singled in the sixth to end a string of 11 consecutive outs for Wells.