Red Sox 9, Orioles 0
BALTIMORE — A well-rested Pedro Martinez marked his return from a five-game suspension by pitching a two-hitter and striking out 15 as the Boston Red Sox beat the slumping Baltimore Orioles 9-0 on Friday night.
Pitching for the first time since May 6, Martinez (6-1) allowed only two baserunners. He retired the first 12 batters before Albert Belle led off the fifth inning with an opposite-field single. After Jeff Conine hit a one-out single, Martinez recorded 14 straight outs.
The 1999 Cy Young winner was suspended for hitting Cleveland's Roberto Alomar with a pitch on April 30.
Jose Offerman went 4-for-5 with a homer off Sidney Ponson (2-2) and two RBIs, and Brian Daubach had a homer and four RBIs.
INDIANS 7, ROYALS 3: At Cleveland, Bartolo Colon (3-1), pitching for the first time since April 15, held Kansas City to three hits in six innings and Kenny Lofton went 3-for-4 and bunted home the go-ahead run.
Travis Fryman hit a clutch two-out, two-run double in the sixth and Manny Ramirez and David Justice homered for Cleveland.
Miguel Batista (1-1) allowed five runs and seven hits in six innings.
TIGERS 9, YANKEES 7: At Detroit, Dean Palmer homered and Juan Encarnacion had three RBIs as Detroit avoided tying the worst start in franchise history.
The Tigers, who have the worst record in the major leagues, improved to 10-23. Only one Detroit team has started the season 9-24, the 1953 club that finished 60-94 and 40 1/2 games behind Casey Stengel's Yankees.
C.J. Nitkowski (2-6), who had lost four straight decisions, gave up two runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings for Detroit.
DEVIL RAYS 4, BLUE JAYS 3: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Gerald Williams snapped an eighth-inning tie with a RBI single and scored on Miguel Cairo's triple as Tampa Bay beat Toronto.
The Devil Rays beat right-hander Cris Carpenter (3-4) for the first time after losing to him four times in the last two seasons. Rick White (1-2) pitched two innings of relief to get the win, and Albie Lopez worked the ninth for his second save.