OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – One of the best pitching matchups of the season turned out to be no contest: Tim Hudson had it all over Pedro Martinez.
Hudson pitched a two-hitter, handing Martinez his first loss in three months as the Oakland Athletics pulled even with Boston atop the AL wild card race with a 4-0 victory over the Red Sox on Monday night.
Hudson (11-4) struck out seven and walked just one in a masterful display of control and ground-ball pitching. He retired 15 of 16 in the middle innings, and he finished his sixth career shutout by retiring the final seven hitters.
The A’s right-hander allowed only a pair of infield singles while facing 28 batters and throwing 93 pitches. It was Hudson’s third complete game of the season, and the 13th of his career.
A large Oakland crowd stood and cheered after each of Hudson’s final three innings.
Chris Singleton and Jose Guillen had run-scoring hits against Martinez (8-3), who struck out seven but pitched just five innings on an apparently strict pitch count. He hadn’t lost since May 9 – a span of 13 starts.
Terrence Long hit a two-run homer off reliever Casey Fossum as the A’s matched Boston’s 68-50 record with their 10th win in 12 games at the Coliseum.
The AL’s most explosive offense faced its most imposing pitching staff in the first of seven key meetings in 10 days between the top two clubs in the wild card race – and in the opener, one hurler decisively beat the hitters.
Hudson and Martinez have two of the top three winning percentages in major league history among pitchers with at least 50 career victories. But this matchup was one-sided in favor of Hudson, who improved to 5-1 over his last seven starts with his fourth straight victory.
Hudson allowed an infield single to Manny Ramirez in the second, but the Boston slugger was erased on a double play. Hudson didn’t allow another hit until Nomar Garciaparra’s slow-rolling infield single in the seventh – and the All-Star shortstop also got erased on a double play.
After a baffling season of hard-luck losses and no-decisions that had Hudson questioning his teammates’ offensive abilities, he left little to chance in his biggest start of the season.
Martinez’s pitch control was typically awesome, following 95-mph fastballs with 75-mph curves, but the three-time Cy Young winner had trouble keeping the ball down at key moments.
He retired seven straight before Mark Ellis’ third-inning single, which Singleton followed with a double off the right-field wall. Guillen drove home Singleton with a single.
Oakland loaded the bases in the fifth on a hit and two walks, but Martinez struck out MVP Miguel Tejada on a 93-mph fastball at eye level.
Martinez, who had thrown 367 pitches in his last three starts, allowed five hits and two walks. He threw 101 pitches and was removed before the sixth.
The pitching intrigue continues through the next three games of the series. The A’s lined up their three aces to face the Red Sox; Barry Zito, who beat out Martinez for last season’s Cy Young, pitches on Tuesday, with Mark Mulder taking on Derek Lowe on Wednesday.
Notes: Hudson improved to 75-30 (.714), and Martinez fell to 160-66 (.708). Spud Chandler, who had a .717 winning percentage with the Yankees from 1937-47, is the only pitcher in history with a better mark than the two. … The A’s expect to activate reliever Jim Mecir on Tuesday. Mecir, once the A’s top setup man, experienced no pain in his balky knees during a rehabilitation start in Sacramento on Sunday. … Boston OF Jeremy Giambi will see Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Anaheim Angels’ team physician, on Tuesday for another opinion on his ailing shoulder.
AP-ES-08-12-03 0034EDT
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