It’s Halladay’s Turn to Shine Against Martinez

Roy Halladay outpitched Pedro Martinez after losing their first two matchups this season, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-1, on Sunday in Toronto.

“You don’t always walk away with wins against teams or pitchers like that, but when you do it’s a great feeling,” Halladay said.

Carlos Delgado hit a two-run homer for the Blue Jays, who split the four-game series.

Halladay (4-4) worked seven strong innings, yielding one run and six hits -- all singles -- while striking out six and walking two.

The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner lost to Martinez on April 10 and 20, though he pitched well both times.

“The results weren’t there, but we still had close games, we just couldn’t pull it out,” said Halladay, who had been looking forward to the third matchup. “It’s exciting because you know it’s going to be a close game. To be able to win close games like that, as a pitcher I think that’s the most satisfying.”

Martinez, a three-time Cy Young winner, gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings. He’s won only one of his last four starts.

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New York 2, Seattle 1 -- Kevin Brown is off to his best start since 1990. He shut down the Mariners for 7 2/3 innings, and John Flaherty hit his first homer since August to lead the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

The 39-year-old Brown, acquired from the Dodgers in December, is 5-0 for the first time since 1990, when he pitched for the Texas Rangers. He’s also the first Yankee to start with five winning decisions since Roger Clemens in 1999.

Brown got out of a tough situation in the fourth, when Seattle loaded the bases on singles by Raul Ibanez and Jolbert Cabrera and a walk to John Olerud. Brown retired Rich Aurilia on a foul pop to the catcher, then got Pat Borders to hit into a routine force at third.

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Oakland 6, Kansas City 2 -- Bobby Crosby had a homer among his three hits and drove in two runs, leading the Athletics to their first series sweep of the season.

Crosby had a solo homer in the fifth inning and an RBI single in Oakland’s three-run seventh. He doubled and scored in the ninth. Erubiel Durazo also homered for the A’s, who won their seventh in a row against the Royals -- all in Kansas City -- and have won seven of their last 10.

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Detroit 3, Texas 1 -- Jason Johnson (2-5) pitched five strong innings, and three relievers combined to throw four shutout innings at Detroit.

Johnson left after the fifth because of a blister on his pitching hand, a problem that has bothered the right-hander all season. He gave up one run and five hits, and struck out seven.

Former Angel Al Levine replaced Johnson and pitched two perfect innings, Esteban Yan gave up one hit in an inning, and Ugueth Urbina got three outs for his sixth save in as many chances.

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Cleveland 10, Tampa Bay 0 -- C.C. Sabathia (2-1) pitched seven strong innings and the Indians completed a three-game sweep in Cleveland.

Sabathia (2-1) gave up five hits and struck out six, improving to 5-0 against the Devil Rays Tampa Bay. The left-hander, who has lost four potential wins this season when the Cleveland bullpen blew leads, walked two and lowered his earned-run average to 2.03.

Travis Hafner and Ben Broussard each drove in four runs as the Indians won their fourth in a row and fifth in six games since a five-game losing streak. Jody Gerut’s career-high hitting streak ended at 17 games. He drew four walks, then struck out in the eighth.

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Chicago 11, Minnesota 0 -- Jose Valentin and Joe Crede homered to back Mark Buehrle’s solid pitching performance, and the White Sox avoided a three-game sweep at Chicago. Buehrle (3-1) yielded seven hits and struck out seven in 6 2/3 innings to improve to 11-4 against the Twins.