Pedro Martinez outduels Clemens at Yankee Stadium

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Pedro Martinez out-duels Roger Clemens at Yankee Stadium.

May 28, 2000 -- In a classic pitcher's duel between Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens, it only took one mistake from "The Rocket" to fall in defeat.

Locked in a scoreless battle that had the look and feel of October about it, Clemens threw a 92 MPH fastball to Trot Nixon which he hit over the right-field bleachers and that was all it took for Boston to beat New York 2-0.

Nixon home run broke a 0-0 tie in the ninth inning and then Martinez (8-2) survived a bases-loaded jam to complete the four-hit shutout. His brother, Ramon, was the first one out of the dugout to congratulate him.

Clemens (4-5), working on a three-hitter with 13 strikeouts, had two outs in the ninth when Jeff Frye hit a ball up the middle that glanced off the pitcher, then Nixon came up and broke the game open with his sixth home run of the season.

"He got the ball up over the plate and I got good wood on it," said Nixon. "His ball was starting to come up. I sensed it was coming up. It was a classic battle and Roger made a mistake."

It was a mistake Martinez (8-2) did not want to repeat. He had retired 10 straight hitters and had a three-hitter going into the ninth. But he hit Chuck Knoblauch leading off and then Derek Jeter followed with his third hit.

Martinez, who lowered his ERA to 1.05, admitted he was running on fumes. "I felt a little exhausted," he said. "My chest was hurting a little bit and I was coughing a lot. I tried to crank it up a little."

He struck out Paul O'Neill but then Bernie Williams sent Nixon to the running track in right field for his long fly ball. The Yankees thought it might be going out but Martinez wasn't worried.

"I knew he didn't hit it good enough," he said.

Now with two out, he hit Jorge Posada to load the bases. But, with the tying runs in scoring position, Tino Martinez bounced out, ending it.

"I wanted to make sure I didn't do what Roger did," Martinez said. "He made a mistake that cost him the game, one little mistake. I hit two guys ahead on the count because I didn't want to make that mistake. I wanted to hit my spots."

A great old fashion pitching duel between two Cy Young award winners and future Hall of Famers.