Martinez, Red Sox Stop Mariners

A big contract and a new league may have made Pedro Martinez even better.

Last year's NL Cy Young winner struck out 12 and gave up just two singles in nine innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 5-0 Saturday.

Martinez (2-0) allowed only six balls out of the infield in his first home game with the Red Sox, who dealt top pitching prospect Carl Pavano to Montreal for him and signed the right-hander to a guaranteed six-year, $75 million contract.

He was 17-8 with a 1.90 ERA last year and Saturday, walked two to lower his ERA to 0.39. His third straight strong performance was especially impressive since the Mariners started the day with a .311 batting average and a major-league high 20 homers.

But in 23 innings this season, Martinez has allowed just one earned run, 12 hits, seven walks and struck out 32. The only hits he allowed Saturday were singles to Joey Cora in the fourth and Alex Rodriguez in the sixth.

His strikeout of Rick Wilkins leading off the eighth was the 10th of the game and the 1000th of his career in 935 1-3 innings. And he's struck out at least 10 batters in 17 of his last 25 starts.

Fans waved flags of the Dominican Republic, Martinez' native country during the game and more enthusiastically when he struck out Ken Griffey Jr. for the last out in the sixth.

Boston didn't need a last-inning rally as it did in Friday's 9-7 win over Seattle when Mo Vaughn capped a seven-run burst with a grand slam.

The Red Sox went ahead 1-0 in the first against Jamie Moyer (1-2) on a single by John Valentin and a run-scoring double by Jim Leyritz.

Valentin also singled and scored in the second, coming home on Vaughn's double. Leyritz, obtained in an offseason trade with Texas, then hit his first homer of the year for a 4-0 lead.

Boston made it 5-0 in the fourth on a leadoff single by Darren Lewis, a sacrifice bunt by Mike Benjamin and a triple by Nomar Garciaparra.

Martinez, meanwhile, retired the first nine batters, the last four on strikeouts. The fourth inning was his toughest as Cora, who has hit safely in all 10 games, led off with a single to left center. Ken Griffey Jr. then flied to center and Edgar Martinez walked. But David Segui struck out, ending the inning.

In the season opener, the right-hander struck out 11, walked two and gave up three hits in seven innings as he beat Oakland 2-0.

In his second start last Monday, he went seven innings again, striking out nine and allowing one run in a 2-1 loss at Anaheim.

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