Another Gem for Martinez, 3-0

Pedro Martinez reached 300 strikeouts and broke a Roger Clemens team record Tuesday night.

“It’s pretty special to have the opportunity to see him pitch,” Boston Manager Jimy Williams said after Martinez pitched a three-hitter and struck out 12 to lead the Red Sox to a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Boston.

“You see him one time, and you say, ‘Wow, look at that!’ But how many times have you seen him do this?” said Williams, who conceded that he felt like a fan while watching his ace pitch. “I really don’t know how you can put in perspective what we’re seeing out here.”

The loss, Toronto’s sixth in a row, dropped the Blue Jays out of the American League wild-card race with 11 games to play. The Red Sox have won six in a row.

Martinez (22-4) joined Randy Johnson as the only pitchers to strike out 300 or more in each league. Only nine pitchers in history have reached the 300-mark more than once, led by Nolan Ryan, who did it six times.

“I did in the National League, so to do it again isn’t anything new. But it’s always nice,” said a joyless Martinez, who learned 15 minutes before the game that a beloved aunt had died. He wrote “Tia Maria”--Spanish for “Aunt Maria”--on his cap.

Martinez fanned at least 10 for the 18th time this season and seventh in a row, and he lowered his major league-leading earned-run average to 2.11. He walked two and hit one batter for his fifth complete game, and became the first Boston pitcher with a shutout this season.

Martinez struck out Tony Batista in the third inning, giving him four for the game and 292 for the season, breaking the previous team record set by Clemens in 1988.

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Seattle 13, Kansas City 3--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his league-leading 47th home run and Alex Rodriguez homered twice at Seattle.

Rodriguez became the first American League shortstop to hit 40 home runs twice. Ernie Banks, who set the major league mark for shortstops with 47 homers in 1958, reached 40 in 1955 and from 1957-60. The only other shortstop to hit 40 home runs was Rico Petrocelli, who had 40 in 1969.

Rodriguez has hit all 41 homers since returning from the disabled list on May 15.

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Baltimore 4, Texas 2--Cal Ripken moved within nine hits of 3,000 and Jason Johnson pitched six strong innings at Arlington, Texas, as the Orioles stretched their winning streak to 12 games.

Ripken was one for four with a double.

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Oakland 5, Minnesota 3--John Jaha hit a two-run homer to tie the score and Ramon Hernandez followed an inning later with a go-ahead, two-run double at Oakland. The Athletics are five games behind the Red Sox in the wild-card race.B

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New York 3, Chicago 1--Andy Pettitte pitched neatly into the eighth inning at New York as the Yankees maintained their three-game lead over the Red Sox in the American League East.

Paul O’Neill of the Yankees reached 100 RBIs for the third season in a row.

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Cleveland 6, Detroit 1--Harold Baines and Manny Ramirez each drove in three runs and Dave Burba pitched eight strong innings at Detroit.