Red Sox's Martinez shows his old form

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Pedro Martinez pitched one-hit ball for eight innings, and Shea Hillenbrand had a bases-loaded triple to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Kansas City Royals 4-0 Friday night.

Martinez (2-0) struck out six and walked none, lowering his ERA from 6.91 to 4.43. He gave up only a single to Mike Sweeney in the fourth and ended the inning by fanning Michael Tucker for his 2,000th career strikeout.

Rich Garces worked the ninth, giving up Neifi Perez's two-out single to complete Boston's second shutout of the season.

Martinez, who threw 94 pitches and retired his final 13 batters, seems to be rounding into form after getting roughed up on opening day against Toronto. The Red Sox ace missed most of last season with a shoulder injury.

Chris George (0-1), recalled from the minors earlier in the day, took the loss.

Yankees 6, Blue Jays 5

NEW YORK -- Gerald Williams threw out the go-ahead run at the plate in the top of the ninth and scored the winning run in the bottom half as New York bailed out Mariano Rivera and beat Toronto.

Trailing 5-1, the Blue Jays scored three runs in the seventh and then tied it in a wild ninth inning against Rivera (1-1), who made a key throwing error.

Williams, who came on as a defensive replacement in the ninth, caught Raul Mondesi's fly ball to right and gunned down Homer Bush at the plate, keeping the game tied at 5.

Williams sparked the winning rally by walking against Bob File (0-1), moving to second on a sacrifice and scoring on Alfonso Soriano's single.

Twins 12, Indians 3

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kyle Lohse (1-1) threw seven strong innings and Tom Prince homered twice against Minnesota's biggest AL Central rival.

Losers of 14 of 19 to the Indians last season and swept in a four-game series last week in Cleveland, the Twins scored four in the fourth inning and six in the fifth to build an 11-0 lead.

Cleveland has lost four straight after starting the season 11-1. C.C. Sabathia (2-1) gave up eight hits and a career-high eight runs in 4 1-3 innings.

Tigers 8, White Sox 2

CHICAGO -- Randall Simon tied his career high with four hits, and Oscar Salazar hit his first major league home run to lead Detroit.

Steve Sparks (1-1), backed by a 5-0 lead in the second, allowed five hits in eight innings, and Mike Rivera drove in two runs for the Tigers, who have won three of four following an 0-11 start.

Carlos Lee homered for the White Sox, who had won four straight and eight of nine.

-- From wire reports