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  Tuesday, Sep. 26 8:05pm ET
Pedro decides to give sore knee, side a rest
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

CHICAGO (AP) -- It was vintage Pedro for five innings. Different pitches at various speeds in almost untouchable locations. He was toying with the high-scoring Chicago White Sox.

And then he was gone.

Pedro Martinez
Martinez

At the end of a long season with the Boston Red Sox -- who are just barely alive in the AL wild-card race -- Pedro Martinez decided to shut it down and give his sore left knee and left side a rest.

"The knee is not something that takes me away from pitching. But this time I have a chance to rest it a little more since we're not going to the playoffs or our hopes are limited," Martinez said after the Red Sox beat the White Sox 4-3 Tuesday night.

Martinez (18-6 ) retired the first 13 batters and allowed just one hit in his five innings before leaving for the night. He wasn't too hurt to pitch, just worn out from the season.

"You have no drive and no push," he said of the Red Sox's disappointing finish. "That's the reason I come out of a game like that. It makes no sense to be out there. I'm going to let my body rest and heal."

Boston entered the game 5½ games behind Oakland for the wild card. The Athletics beat Anaheim 10-3 later on Tuesday.

Martinez (18-6) gave up a single to Carlos Lee with one out in the fifth in what was probably his final appearance of the season. He walked none and struck out six, giving him 284 for the season. He lowered his ERA to 1.74.

"I am here to win and I don't care about individual stats. I don't pay attention to them," said Martinez, who said his season was comparable, if not better, than last year's Cy Young performance.

"I think he had a better year this year," Red Sox manager Jim Williams said. "You can't just look at his wins and losses."

Nomar Garciaparra hit a two-run homer, his 20th of the season, off Kevin Beirne (1-3) in the fourth and Dante Bichette hit his seventh, a solo shot, in the fifth.

Derek Lowe pitched the ninth for his 39th save in 44 chances. He allowed an RBI double to Magglio Ordonez before retiring the final three batters -- two on strikeouts -- with the tying run at third and no outs.

The White Sox did not start regulars Frank Thomas, Ray Durham and Herbert Perry and are now 0-3 since clinching the AL Central before the end of Sunday's loss in Minnesota. Durham and Perry have been nursing injuries.

"The key for us is to get healthy," White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. "We obviously want to win these games. We had a shot tonight and it didn't work out."

Rico Brogna hit an RBI single off Chad Bradford in the seventh for a 4-0 lead before Lee connected for his 24th homer off Wakefield in the bottom of the same inning.

The White Sox made it 4-2 in the eighth when Brogna muffed a grounder for a two-base error and Charles Johnson hit an RBI single off Rod Beck.

Thomas pinch-hit with two outs and popped out.

Game notes
Boston's Carl Everett, who didn't start the previous eight games because of a quadriceps injury, was back in the lineup, but left the game after injuring a tendon next to his ankle in the eighth inning. He'd been in the center of controversy after yelling at both manager Jimy Williams and teammate Darren Lewis last week. In the eighth, Everett hit a grounder to short and as he took a few steps toward first, came up lame and fell into the grass in pain. Williams came out of the dugout and helped him up before Everett was assisted off the field by trainers. ... The White Sox's first home game since clinching the AL Central drew 23,319, while the last-place Cubs attracted 26,055 to their game with the Phillies, eight miles across town at Wrigley Field. The White Sox entered play Tuesday night with 93 wins, the Cubs with 93 losses.
 


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