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July 31, 2002
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Pedro Martinez pitched two-hit ball for eight innings and struck out nine as the Boston Red Sox used home runs from Jason Varitek and Shea Hillenbrand to beat the Angels 6-0 Tuesday night.
The Red Sox cut Anaheim's lead in the wild-card race to one game and remained five behind the Yankees in the East.
The Angels dropped a game behind first-place Seattle in the West.
Martinez left after 93 pitches and was relieved by Ugueth Urbina. The three-time Cy Young winner held Anaheim to leadoff singles by Brad Fullmer in the second and Darin Erstad in the fourth.
Urbina pitched a perfect ninth, setting down the last three of 17 straight Angels to be retired. The game took 2 hours, 14 minutes.
Fullmer was picked off by Martinez, and Erstad was erased on Garret Anderson's 3-6-3 double-play grounder. Anaheim's only other baserunner was Tim Salmon, who walked in the first.
Martinez retired his last 14 batters, improving to 7-0 with a 1.10 ERA in his past eight starts. He lowered his season ERA to 2.36, 13 points higher than league-leading teammate Derek Lowe.
Ramon Ortiz was charged with six runs and seven hits in six innings. Three runs were unearned, the result of three errors by an Anaheim defense that entered tied with Minnesota for the fewest errors in the league at 56.
WHITE SOX 3, TWINS 0: Mark Buehrle pitched his third career shutout, and Magglio Ordonez hit a three-run homer as visiting Chicago snapped Minnesota's four-game winning streak.
Buehrle beat the Twins for the second straight start, holding them to five hits. He struck out four and walked two, tying for second in the league with his 14th win.
The left-hander gave up a double and a single to start the ninth but got Michael Cuddyer to ground into a double play to end it.
MARINERS 5, TIGERS 4 (10): Pinch-hitter Mark McLemore drove in the winning run with a squeeze bunt in the 10th inning for host Seattle.
With the score tied at 4, Edgar Martinez opened the 10th with a double off Jeff Farnsworth and Desi Relaford pinch ran. John Olerud was intentionally walked, Charles Gipson sacrificed and Mike Cameron was intentionally walked, loading the bases.
McLemore then bunted, with Relaford beating Farnsworth's throw to catcher Brandon Inge. McLemore was credited with a single.
The Tigers' Bobby Higginson singled to tie the score at 4 in the fifth.
YANKEES 9, RANGERS 6: Bernie Williams and Jason Giambi hit two-run homers, helping David Wells overcome a rocky start for visiting New York.
The homer-happy Yankees also got shots from Raul Mondesi and Alfonso Soriano. They are 8-0 when hitting four or more homers in a game.
The Rangers, who are second to New York in homers, hit three.
BLUE JAYS 13, ROYALS 4: Vernon Wells hit a bases-clearing triple and tied a career high with four RBIs as visiting Toronto snapped a four-game losing streak. Wells drove in four runs for the fourth time this season.
INDIANS 5, ATHLETICS 4: Ricky Gutierrez drove in two runs runs and Ryan Drese won for the second time in eight starts as visiting Cleveland made it two in a row against Oakland.