Martinez Takes Loss to Pirates Personally

Pedro Martinez was close to tears, and it wasn’t only because the New York Mets failed to clinch the East Division on Friday night.

Martinez struggled in his first start in more than a month, yielding four runs in three innings in a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

When he came out of the game, Martinez sat in the dugout, head in his hands, and Manager Willie Randolph put an arm around him.

“My pitches weren’t there. That was the biggest frustration,” Martinez said. “I was about to snap and let it all out. Thank God Willie was there. I felt like crying at that time.”

Martinez (9-6) had been on the disabled list because of a strained right calf since Aug. 14, and Randolph said he would be limited to 60 to 80 pitches. He threw 68 pitches and gave up six hits, walked one, hit a batter and made a throwing error.

“I didn’t see the results I was expecting,” Martinez said. “When you come off so many days without throwing the ball, you want to make a statement. I wanted to do a little bit better. ... I can’t expect to be 100% fine. I still have plenty of time to do it.”

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ROUNDUP

Florida 6, at Atlanta 4: Marlins relievers had a 15-26 record and 25 blown saves, but Taylor Tankersley pitched out of an eighth-inning jam and Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his 34th save in 41 chances.

Philadelphia 4, at Houston 3: Pat Burrell, two for 33 in his previous 11 games against the Astros, hit a grand slam in the first inning off Roger Clemens.

Cincinnati 4, at Chicago 0: David Ross hit a three-run homer and the Reds won for only the sixth time in 19 games.

Milwaukee 5, at Washington 2: Carlos Villanueva earned his first major league victory with six-plus innings in relief of injured starter Tomo Ohka.

at St. Louis 14, San Francisco 4: Scott Rolen hit two home runs and drove home a career-high seven runs. “I had a good September tonight,” he said.

at Arizona 5, Colorado 1: Brandon Webb became the league’s second 16-game winner, joining Brad Penny.