Boston manager Jimy Williams wondered if he pushed starter Ramon Martinez too far last night. Martinez said he did not.
Martinez, who missed 15 months after undergoing shoulder surgery, threw 120 pitches last night for the Red Sox in Game 2 of the ALCS at The Stadium. The last pitch, however, was smacked into the leftfield corner by Chuck Knoblauch, scoring Ricky Ledee with the tying run in what turned out to be a 3-2 Yankees win.
“I thought he pitched a tremendous game,” Williams said. “Kept us in the game. The starter sets the tone, we always say, and he certainly did more than that. I think he threw around 120 pitches or thereabouts. I don’t know the last time he threw 120. Maybe we pushed him. I don’t know. Really, I just don’t want to hurt the kid.”
The kid, who’s 31 years old, battled David Cone, going 62/3 innings with five strikeouts and three walks. He said he could have gone longer.
“I feel fine,” he said. “When I come out of the game I was just normal. I don’t feel any kind of pain, tired or anything.”
Of the 120 pitches he threw, Martinez tossed 68 strikes. He said he was trying to locate his fastball and then use his breaking ball off of that. He took a 2-1 lead into the seventh but opened the inning by walking Ricky Ledee. Williams could have went to his pen then, but he stuck with his starter.
Scott Brosius sacrificed Ledee to second and after Joe Girardi popped to second, Knoblauch took a changeup to left, scoring Ledee with the tying run. Williams had seen enough.
“I didn’t want to come out in that situation but I had to come out,” said Martinez. “It was a great game. It was an exciting game and I could keep going.”