May 3, 2003 ... They stood in rousing tribute, more than 33,000 strong showing their love from the priciest corporate suites to the K-card clothesline in the far reaches of the bleachers. Pedro Martinez finished his first nine-inning complete game since his Cy Young season in 2000, and the Red Sox faithful chanted his name in adulation as he thrust his finger toward the heavens, hugged his teammates, and tossed the game ball to a child behind the dugout, where three weeks earlier a heckler had chided him after the worst outing of his career. For one sweet moment, it seemed, all was right again between the Sox great and his adopted city.

Of course, only time will tell whether the outpouring of adoration will prompt Martinez to emerge from the cone of silence he entered after he was booed in the Fens April 12 over a 10-run pasting he suffered from the Orioles just days after he received a $17.5 million contract extension. His teammates said the Sox ace was hurt by the episode, and they welcomed the chance that the avalanche of affection he received after mowing down the Twins, 9-1, before 33,061 at Fenway Park could help put the April incident behind him.

Martinez, who scattered five hits, walked none, and struck out 12 to improve to 3-1, has surrendered just three earned runs over 30 innings in four starts since April 12 to lower his ERA from 5.12 to 2.55. And his pal, David Ortiz, who keyed a game-breaking, seven- run rally in the sixth inning to help provide the whopping margin of victory, went out of his way to encourage Sox fans to stand by their ace.

Nary a boo was uttered amid Martinez's masterwork. Though he hit no more than 93 miles an hour on the radar gun, he hardly needed more as he bedeviled the Twins with the rest of his repertoire. He mixed in his curveball, changeup, and cut fastball to keep the Twins off balance and record his most strikeouts since July 1, when he fanned the Blue Jays 14 times. Martinez went to three-ball counts against only three batters. And he struck out 10 or more for the second straight game for the first time since he accomplished the feat five straight times from May 12-June 4, 2001.

The Twins touched Martinez for their only run in the fourth inning when Cristian Guzman ripped a hanging curve for a ground-rule double into the right field grandstand and scored on Corey Koskie's single up the middle. As consolation, Shea Hillenbrand cut off Damon's throw to the plate and fired to first to erase Koskie diving back to the bag.

In the second, Manny Ramirez singled to right, motored to third on Ortiz's double to right-center, and scored on Trot Nixon's sacrifice fly to deep right. Todd Walker gave Martinez the only other run he would need by singling home Jason Varitek in the fifth inning after Varitek singled, stole second, and took third on Damon's fly out. And the Sox blew the game open with their second major strike in as many days, topping Friday's six-run seventh inning with a seven-run outburst in the sixth.

Ortiz started the rally by drawing a leadoff walk. And before he ended the uprising with his three-run double, the Sox strung together hits by Kevin Millar, Nixon, and Walker, a run-scoring fielder's choice by Varitek, and a sacrifice fly by Damon to provide the 9-1 margin. The Sox improved to 20-10, as they won their 20th game even earlier than they did last year (May 5) on their way to a 40-17 start.