Martinez Is Human After All

Nothing felt right for Pedro Martinez as he pitched the worst game of his career Sunday.

Except for the score.

The Florida Marlins shelled him for nine runs and 12 hits in 3 2/3 innings, then squandered a 9-5 lead and lost, 11-9, to the Red Sox at Boston.

“It was just a bad day on the mound. I didn’t have anything,” Martinez said. “I’m glad my teammates bailed me out. They always try hard for me.”

The nine runs were the most Martinez has given up in 172 starts but he avoided the loss thanks to John Valentin, whose four runs batted in included a two-run, wind-aided triple that gave Boston a 10-9 lead in the eighth against Vladimir Nunez (3-3). Lou Merloni added a sacrifice fly in the inning.

After striking out five National Leaguers in two hitless innings in Tuesday night’s All-Star game at Fenway Park, Martinez saw his earned-run average rise from 2.10 to 2.51, still the best in the majors.

Martinez, baseball’s winningest pitcher at 15-3, said his lack of work recently may have hurt him. In the past 10 days, he threw only 28 pitches, all in the All-Star game.

“My pitches weren’t working. I was off, probably, with everything,” Martinez said.

The previous high for runs against Martinez was seven by San Francisco on July 14, 1994 and Toronto on May 25, 1998.

Houston 2, Cleveland 0--Mike Hampton pitched a four-hitter at Houston to lead the Astros to a season-high seventh consecutive victory.

Hampton (12-3) went the distance for the third time this season. He gave up two walks and struck out eight. No runner advanced past second base, and only two of the hits got out of the infield.

Jaret Wright (7-5) went five innings, gave up one run and three hits, struck out three and walked three. He retired 10 of the last 11 hitters he faced, including nine in a row, before leaving the game because of tightness in his right shoulder in the sixth.

Seattle 8, Arizona 7--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his first home run at Safeco Field and Russ Davis hit a game-winning single in the 10th inning at Seattle.

Griffey, second in the American League in homers behind Tampa Bay’s disabled Jose Canseco, hit his 30th against Omar Daal in the fourth inning to cut Seattle’s deficit to 6-1. It came in his fourth game and 13th at-bat at Safeco.

New York Mets 8, Baltimore 6--Rickey Henderson hit his 75th leadoff homer and former Oriole closer Armando Benitez sealed the first win in a month for Masato Yoshii (7-7), stopping the Orioles five-game winning streak at Baltimore.

Detroit 9, Cincinnati 8--The Tigers blew a six-run lead, but Brad Ausmus’ squeeze bunt scored the tiebreaking run in the 10th at Cincinnati.

Milwaukee 5, Chicago White Sox 4--Jose Valentin’s two-out single in the bottom of the ninth scored pinch-runner Lou Collier for the victory at Milwaukee.

White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas left in the first inning after suffering a bruised right.

Minnesota 5, St. Louis 2--LaTroy Hawkins (6-8) pitched seven scoreless innings and Denny Hocking led off his second consecutive game with a home run at St. Louis.

The Cardinals were without Mark McGwire, who sat out a day after he had to leave because of back spasms after striking out against the White Sox.

Oakland 3, Colorado 2--Jimmy Haynes (7-7) pitched 6 1/3 innings of five-hit ball and Olmedo Saenz hit a two-run homer at Oakland.

Kansas City 5, Chicago Cubs 4--Jeff Suppan (5-5) won for the first time in three weeks and had a run-scoring single at Chicago.

Philadelphia 3, Tampa Bay 2--Curt Schilling won his sixth consecutive game to become the National League’s second 14-game winner, and Scott Rolen hit two home runs for the Phillies at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Toronto 3, Atlanta 2--Joey Hamilton (2-5) and two relievers combined on a six-hitter, and Shawn Green extended his hitting streak to 16 games at Toronto.

Texas 5, San Francisco 4--Mike Morgan (10-6) won for the fourth time in five decisions, giving up three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings at Arlington, Texas.

Baseball Notes

The Milwaukee Brewers put All-Star outfielder Jeromy Burnitz on the 15-day disabled list Sunday because of a broken right hand.. . . . Tomokazu Ohka, a Japanese right-hander with an 11-0 minor-league record, was called up by Boston.