The Curse of the Bambino is over, at least for Pedro Martinez.
Martinez won for the first time since last May 30, pitching six strong innings Sunday to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Baltimore Orioles 4-1.
Coming off a season shortened to 18 starts by shoulder pain and an awful appearance on opening day, Martinez allowed one unearned run and three hits, struck out five and walked one. Shea Hillenbrand backed him with a pair of two-run homers.
"I hope that everyone chills now. I'm not 100 percent strong yet, but I'll get there," he declared.
Martinez had been winless in his previous eight starts since beating the New York Yankees 3-0. That was the night he brought up the famous curse against the Red Sox, saying, "Wake up the Bambino. Maybe I'll drill him in the (behind)."
Boston hasn't won the World Series since 1918, and some attribute the absence of a title to the team's sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.
At Camden Yards, Martinez allowed only one runner past second base and retired his final seven batters. Martinez threw 85 pitches, 54 for strikes, in lowering his ERA from 21.00 to 7.00.
Baltimore has lost five straight, scoring only four runs during that span. Ugueth Urbina pitched the ninth to earn his third save, all in this series. Calvin Maduro (0-1) was the loser.
YANKEES 7, DEVIL RAYS 2: Roger Clemens (1-1) completed a near-flawless turn through New York's rotation, allowing one earned run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings as the Yankees swept a three-game series from visiting Tampa Bay.
Jason Giambi drove in his first run with the Yankees with an RBI single and Derek Jeter had three hits and three RBIs for New York, which has won five straight.
Yankees starting pitchers had not allowed a run since that game until the Devil Rays scored an unearned run in the sixth. That snapped New York's 23-inning scoreless streak and a 33 1/3-inning stretch by the starters. Tanyon Sturtze (0-1) allowed six runs and nine hits in six innings.
ATHLETICS 6, MARINERS 5: Rookie Carlos Pena hit his fourth home run, and Eric Chavez returned to the lineup with a homer off Jamie Moyer (0-1) and three RBIs as Oakland won at Safeco Field.
The A's took two of three from their AL West rivals in a series matching teams that reached the playoffs the last two seasons. When the Mariners tied the major league record with 116 wins last year, they went 10 series into the season before losing one.
INDIANS 5, TIGERS 1:C.C. Sabathia's no-hit bid was stopped by Randall Simon's single on the first pitch of the eighth at Detroit. Sabathia (1-0), who struck out two and walked two in eight innings, was trying to be the first Cleveland pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Len Barker's perfect game against Toronto on May 15, 1981.
TWINS 10, BLUE JAYS 6:Corey Koskie hit a three-run homer in the first and Torii Hunter also had three RBIs as Minnesota won its third straight at Toronto. Dustan Mohr and David Ortiz also homered for the Twins, and Chris Woodward and Raul Mondesi homered for the Blue Jays.
ROYALS 9, WHITE SOX 2: Chuck Knoblauch snapped an 0-for-16 skid with a two-run double in the seventh against visiting Chicago.
A day after Kansas City lost 14-0 to the White Sox, Jeff Suppan (1-0) held them to one run on six hits in seven innings. The only run he allowed came on Frank Thomas' broken-bat homer in the first.