BoSox Take Care Of Cleveland

This time Pedro Martinez was not coming out.

Martinez, who was pulled after 7 2-3 innings in his last start against Detroit, pitched a complete game to lead the Red Sox past the Indians 3-2 on Sunday.

After Martinez gave up an RBI single to Wil Cordero in the ninth inning, manager Jimy Williams went to the mound to talk to his ace.

"I told him I was fine," Martinez said. "I told him I was going to get the out and to trust me. I looked at him when he came out of the dugout and I pretty much knew he wasn't going to take me out because of the situation."

"We have a lot of outstanding pitchers on this club, but he's a premiere pitcher in baseball," Williams said. "It was two tough guys going at it out there."

Martinez (4-1), who retired 14 of the first 17 batters he faced, struck out 10 to become the second four-game winner in the American League.

Martinez also allowed an RBI single to Kenny Lofton in the sixth.

Jason Varitek two-run double in the seventh inning gave the Red Sox a 3-1 lead.

Damon Buford saved at least one run for the Red Sox in the sixth, making a diving catch on Roberto Alomar's fly ball and doubling Lofton off second base.

"In games like this, it's pitching and defense," Williams said. "In games like this, it's always one or two defensive plays that stand out."

Bartolo Colon, also looking for his fourth win, was almost as tough as Martinez, allowing one run and seven hits in six innings.

"You look for it to be a matchup of two dominating pitchers and that is what we saw," Indians manager Mike Hargrove said. "Sometimes these games don't live up to their billing, but it did today."

Paul Shuey (2-1) started the seventh and allowed a one-out single to Mike Stanley, a walk to Troy O'Leary and a single o Buford to load the bases. Varitek followed with a double down the right-field line to make it 3-1.

Shuey left the game in the eighth inning after injuring his right hamstring. He is expected to miss 7-10 days.

The Red Sox led off the game with back-to-back doubles to take a 1-0 lead. Jose Offerman doubled off the wall and Jeff Frye brought him in on a double down the right-field line.

Colon bailed himself out of a few early jams, striking out Frye with runners on first and second in the second, and whiffing Buford with runners on second and third in the third.

"I need to work on staying in the game longer," Colon said. "I had lots of deep counts. I just tried to take a deep breath and go after them."

In the fourth, he gave up a leadoff single to Varitek and walked Darren Lewis before striking out Offerman and getting Frye to ground into a double play.

Notes: Left-handed hitters are hitting .209 (9-for-43) vs. Colon this season. ... Cleveland's Manny Ramirez is hitting .467 (14-30) with runners in scoring position. ... Martinez's 47 strikeouts leads the American League. ... The Red Sox lead the American League with a 3.26 ERA. ... Red Sox reliever Rheal Cormier, who pitched in only one game in 1997-1998 because of elbow and shoulder injuries, has allowed only one run in 7.2 innings.

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