Cardinals flop in 13-1 loss at Fenway

BOSTON -- Pedro Martinez pitched three solid innings in his return from the disabled list, and the Boston Red Sox had a season-high 19 hits on the way to beating the Cardinals 13-1 Wednesday night.

Boston tied a season high by scoring seven runs in the second inning and scored at least eight runs for the fifth time in seven games.

Martinez left to a standing ovation after throwing 47 pitches as the Red Sox eased him back into action. He hadn't pitched since May 15 and went on the disabled list May 25 with an inflamed tendon and strained muscle high on his right side.

The Red Sox ace struck out three and allowed two hits and no walks as his ERA dropped from 2.83 to 2.70. He was replaced, as planned, by John Burkett (4-3) to start the fourth.

By that time, the Red Sox powerful lineup had built a 9-0 cushion against Brett Tomko (2-5), who left the game after allowing singles to the first two batters in the third. He gave up nine runs on 10 hits.

Nomar Garciaparra got his sixth triple in 10 games, and Trot Nixon and Manny Ramirez hit solo homers, giving the Red Sox 20 home runs in their last eight games.

Boston entered the game with a major league-best .296 batting average, and had 11 hits in the first three innings.

Every Boston starter hit safely and leadoff hitter Johnny Damon, in a 13-for-69 slump, went 4-for-6 with three RBIs.

The Cardinals got to Burkett immediately in the fourth as Albert Pujols led off with a double and scored on Jim Edmonds' single. But Burkett shut the Cardinals out for the final five innings.

In the second, the Red Sox had a season-high seven hits and tied their season-high of seven runs in one inning.

Nixon for Boston's big second inning started by hitting a one-out homer, his eighth of the season and fifth in seven games. Bill Mueller singled and scored on Jason Varitek's double.

Damon's run-scoring double made it 3-0 before Todd Walker flied out for the second out. Then Garciaparra singled in a run, Ramirez walked and David Ortiz followed with an RBI single. Kevin Millar capped the rally with a two-run double.

The Red Sox made it 9-0 in the third on Damon's RBI single and Garciaparra's sacrifice fly. Ramirez led off the sixth with his 14th homer, his seventh during his 10-game hitting streak, to make the score 10-0.

They added three more runs in the eighth against Dustin Hermanson, who pitched for Boston last year.

Cardinals agree to terms with draft pick

The Cardinals agreed to terms Wednesday with their first round draft pick, catcher Daric Barton.

The details of the agreement were not disclosed. He'll be assigned to the team's Johnson City affiliate.

The left-handed catcher, from Marina High School in Huntington Beach, Calif., was the 28th overall pick, and was rated the third-best pure hitter among high schoolers by Baseball America.

Barton, 17, was the first catcher taken by the Cardinals in the first round since Terry Kennedy in 1977; the only other catcher they've taken in the first round was Ted Simmons in 1967.

Notes: Pujols extended his hitting streak to 12 games. ... The Cardinals lost for just the second time in nine games. In interleague play, they're 6-2 this season. ... Boston is 6-1 in Martinez's last seven starts after going 0-3 in his first three. ... New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick attended the game and sat beside the Red Sox dugout.