May 23, 2000 -- For Pedro Martinez, it was an off night. "For him, it was a bad performance, and that's scary," Blue Jays outfielder Shannon Stewart said Tuesday night after Toronto beat Martinez and the Boston Red Sox 3-2. "The guy's just a great pitcher."

Chris Carpenter and the Toronto bullpen out-pitched Martinez, who allowed a season-high seven hits and three earned runs as his major league-leading ERA rose from 0.90 to 1.19.

Martinez (7-2) allowed a season-high seven hits and three earned runs as his major league-leading ERA rose from 0.90 to 1.19. The 1999 AL Cy Young winner had not given up three earned runs in 18 starts since last Aug. 19, a span that included last year's playoffs.

Martinez came into the game leading the AL in strikeouts and tied for the lead in wins, but he ran into trouble from the first batter. Stewart and Craig Grebeck led off the game with singles and, after Raul Mondesi grounded into a fielder's choice, Stewart came home on a wild pitch.

Alex Gonzalez led off with a single, took second on Stewart's single, third on Grebeck's walk and scored on Carlos Delgado's sacrifice fly. Batista hit his 12th homer leading off the fourth, ending an 0-for-13 slide and giving the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead which they went on to win 3-2.

"I guess a lot depends on your expectations," Boston manager Jimmy Williams said. "To me, he doesn't have an reason to be down; he pitched good. But Pedro expects a lot from himself — he always has. Maybe that's why he's at the level he is."

Note: With 32 strikeouts in his previous two starts, Martinez tied Louis Tiant, Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson for the most strikeouts in consecutive games by an AL pitcher. Kerry Wood holds the major league mark with 33

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