TORONTO - Pedro Martinez beat Roy Halladay for the second time this month in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners, leading the Boston Red Sox over the Blue Jays 4-2 Tuesday night in a game that saw both benches clear.
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.
Martinez struck out six in seven innings and retired 15 of the first 17, allowing two runs and five hits. He also defeated Halladay on April 10 at Boston.
Boston won for the fourth time in five games. Toronto lost its fourth straight and dropped to 3-10, matching its worst start (1981). The Blue Jays are 0-7 at SkyDome and are the first major-league team to lose its first seven home games since the 1997 Cubs.
Jason Varitek was 3-for-3 and Bill Mueller scored two for the Red Sox, who had just won three of four against the Yankees at Fenway Park.
Keith Foulke pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in four tries, completing a five-hitter.
Carlos Delgado, batting .119 (5-for-42) going 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.
Toronto didn't score until the seventh, when Josh Phelps tripled and came home on Kevin Cash's sacrifice fly to end a 19-inning scoreless streak. One out later, Orlando Hudson hit a run-scoring single.
YANKEES 11, WHITE SOX 8: Struggling Alex Rodriguez got New York going with an unlikely hit, a bunt single, and the visiting Yankees scored seven in the first. The Yankees got back to .500 with their biggest first inning in nine years as they routed Mark Buehrle in a game delayed twice by rain, 12 minutes at the start and 72 minutes after the second.
Jorge Posada drove in four and had three hits, including a two-run single in the first and a homer in the eighth. Miguel Cairo capped the first-inning outburst with a three-run double.
Rodriguez went 3-for-6 and improved his average from .160 to .196 with his second multihit game of the season, his previous one coming on April 14 against the Devil Rays.
TWINS 6, TIGERS 4: Lew Ford, Michael Ryan and Nick Punto drove in two each to lead host Minnesota to its sixth straight victory. Ryan, a seldom-used outfielder who beat out Ford this spring as the last position player on the roster, went 3-for-3 for the Twins. Rondell White hit a two-run homer, his second in as many games, to give Detroit a 2-1 lead in the fourth.
MARINERS 2, A'S 1: Raul Ibanez homered to tie in the seventh, then again in the ninth to lift host Seattle. The Mariners have won four straight, including consecutive 2-1 wins over Oakland. Ibanez hit a 2-and-2 pitch off Jim Mecir to right to end the game. It was his first career multihomer game.
ROYALS 15, INDIANS 5: Matt Stairs hit a grand slam and matched a career high with six RBIs as Kansas City ended a six-game road losing streak. Stairs hit his eighth career slam in the sixth inning, giving the Royals an 11-4 lead. He hit a run-scoring double off Chad Durbin during a five-run first and added a run-scoring grounder in the second.
RANGERS 6, ANGELS 3: Brad Fullmer homered and drove in two runs in his first game in Anaheim since leaving as a free agent in the offseason, leading Texas. Kenny Rogers (3-0) allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings, striking out three and walking two. The victory was the left-hander's 104th with the Rangers, tying Bobby Witt for second on the franchise list behind Charlie Hough's 139.
