Martinez Comes Close to History

On a night when he had everything working, Pedro Martinez threw one hanging curveball that cost him a chance at the first no-hitter in New York Mets’ history.

Martinez took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Tuesday against the Houston Astros before Chris Burke hit his first major league home run. Martinez gave up only one other hit and struck out 12 in a 3-1 victory at New York.

Martinez said he didn’t realize he had a no-hitter going until the crowd of 39,953 responded following the homer, which came on his 69th pitch.

“I didn’t really realize it until I heard the fans clapping,” he said. “I never look at the scoreboard. I look everywhere else. It’s not the first time that’s happened to me.”

The two-hitter was his second this season and the fifth of his career.

Constantly getting ahead of the Houston hitters, Martinez mixed speeds and pitches brilliantly.

“We started hard early and threw some off-speed stuff in the middle innings,” Met catcher Mike Piazza said.

Martinez outpitched Roy Oswalt (6-7), who hit Cliff Floyd with a pitch in the seventh. Floyd pointed at Oswalt and started toward him, but was held off before he could get close.

St. Louis 9, Boston 2 -- Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders homered off previously unbeaten Matt Clement (6-1), and Jeff Suppan worked six solid innings in the Cardinals’ victory at St. Louis.

The Cardinals have won the first two games of the three-game series by a combined score of 16-3, four more runs than they mustered last fall in a World Series they never led.

The action turned testy in the last four innings when five players were hit by pitches, three of them Cardinals including Larry Walker twice. Both benches were warned in the seventh after Mark Grudzielanek, the third player to be hit and the second Cardinal, was hit in the back by Matt Mantei, eventually ejected for hitting Walker.

The Cardinals’ Al Reyes was ejected in the eighth after hitting Kevin Youkilis on the left wrist.

Milwaukee 2, New York Yankees 1 -- Ben Sheets (2-5) won for the first time since opening day and the Brewers handed the visiting Yankees (28-30) their ninth loss in 10 games.

Yankee starter Carl Pavano (4-5) gave up five hits in six innings, but one was a two-run homer to Bill Hall.

Toronto 6, Chicago Cubs 4 -- Aaron Hill drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the eighth inning to lead the Blue Jays at Chicago.

Philadelphia 8, Texas 5 -- Placido Polanco drove in three runs, Bobby Abreu homered and Jon Lieber (8-4) pitched effectively into the seventh inning at Philadelphia to win his third straight start.

Washington 2, Oakland 1 -- Nick Johnson kept up his torrid homestand with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning, leading the Nationals at Washington. Johnson raised his average on the eight-game homestand to .560 (14 for 25).

Cincinnati 9, Tampa Bay 7 -- Relief pitcher Randy Keisler homered and doubled, leading the Reds’ comeback from a five-run, second-inning deficit at Cincinnati. Keisler replaced Ramon Ortiz in the second inning.

Seattle 4, Florida 3 -- A throwing error by Marlin reliever Jim Mecir fueled the Mariners’ two-run eighth inning in a victory at Miami. After walking Brett Boone and hitting Mike Morse, Mecir (1-1) threw wildly to first on Pat Borders’ grounder, allowing Boone to score. Pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs then hit a sacrifice fly.

Pittsburgh 6, Baltimore 5 -- Jack Wilson’s go-ahead solo homer followed Daryle Ward’s tying three-run shot in the eighth inning and the Pirates rallied from a five-run, fifth-inning deficit at Pittsburgh.

Chicago White Sox 2, Colorado 1-- Jose Contreras (3-2) gave up five hits in six innings and Jermaine Dye and A.J. Pierzynski each had a run-scoring single to lead the White Sox at Denver.

Minnesota 9, Arizona 8 -- Torii Hunter homered twice among his four hits and scored four runs to lead the Twins at Phoenix. Hunter singled in the ninth and scored the go-ahead run on Jacque Jones’ RBI single off Jose Valverde (1-3).

Cleveland 2, San Diego 0 -- Shortstop Khalil Greene’s two-out throwing error with runners on second and third allowed the Indians to snap a scoreless tie and beat Padres in 11 innings at San Diego.

Greene bounced his throw to first on Ben Broussard’s grounder, allowing Jhonny Peralta to score. Victor Martinez then singled in the final run.

Kansas City 8, San Francisco 1 -- D.J. Carrasco pitched a five-hitter for his first career complete game, and Tony Graffanino homered and drove in two runs to help the Royals end a nine-game road losing streak and hand the Giants their 10th loss in 11 games.