Pedro again wins battle of Cy Youngs - MLB

TORONTO -- For the second time in a month, Pedro Martinez defeated Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners.

Martinez retired 15 of his first 17 batters, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 4-2 victory Tuesday night, their fourth in five games.

Martinez (2-1) struck out six in seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits. He also defeated Halladay (1-3) on April 10 at Boston.

"I felt a lot better inside here than last time," said Martinez, who gave up seven earned runs against Baltimore last Thursday. "I felt loose and didn't have a hard time warming up. I had my normal routine back, and that was the difference."

Toronto reliever Terry Adams nearly hit Manny Ramirez in the head in the eighth inning, and the Boston slugger walked out from the plate as the benches emptied, but things quickly settled down.

"The first thing the umpire said was it wasn't on purpose," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "It wasn't guys looking to go to fight. These guys are competitive, and Manny just reacted."

Toronto lost its fourth straight and dropped to 3-10, matching its worst start (1981). The Blue Jays are 0-7 at SkyDome -- the first major-league team to lose its first seven home games since the 1997 Chicago Cubs.

"Were not playing like the type of team were capable of," Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said.

Jason Varitek was 3-for-3 and Bill Mueller scored two runs for the Red Sox, who had just won three of four against the New York Yankees in Fenway Park.

Keith Foulke pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in four tries, completing a five-hitter.

"Pedro had tremendous stuff," Varitek said. "With that stuff, they were lucky to get one across to be honest."

Carlos Delgado, batting .119 (5-for-42) coming in, went 2-for-4 and was the only batter to reach against Martinez in the first five innings. His second-inning double ended an 0-for-15 slide.

Halladay gave up three runs and nine hits in six innings, striking out seven.

"Doc, just being Doc, helped keep us in this game," Tosca said of Halladay. "It could have been a lot worse."

Toronto didn't score until the seventh, when Josh Phelps tripled and scored on Kevin Cash's sacrifice fly to end a 19-inning scoreless streak. One out later, Orlando Hudson hit an RBI single.

Ramirez hit a two-out RBI single in the first, and Boston made it 2-0 in the fourth when Halladay was called for a balk by plate umpire Ron Kulpa with Varitek on third.

"It's disappointing to me to give up a run that way," said Halladay, who was in the process of getting a sign from Cash behind the plate. "If it's a balk, it's a balk. I disagree but maybe I don't understand the ruling of when you can or can't move."

Kevin Millar hit an RBI double in the fifth, but Halladay struck out Mark Bellhorn to end the inning with the bases loaded. Varitek's RBI double off Valerio De Los Santos made it 4-0 in the seventh.

The biggest cheers from the 26,010 fans were for updates for Game 7 of the NHL playoff series played a few blocks away. The Maples Leafs beat Ottawa 4-1 and advanced to a second-round matchup against Philadelphia.

Notes

Bellhorn (bruised elbow) returned to the lineup after missing Monday's game against the Yankees.
Varitek has reached by a hit or walk in all 12 games he has played.

Toronto vs. Boston

Notes