BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Pedro Martinez probably has seen enough of his bullpen already.
Tony Batista's bases-loaded walk with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Baltimore Orioles to a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Once again, it was Chad Fox (0-2) who ended a strong start by Martinez with a loss. On Opening Day, Fox gave up the game-winning, three-run homer to Carl Crawford in a 6-4 loss at Tampa Bay on Monday, spoiling a potential win for Martinez.
"It is only two outings. Don't start that," Martinez said tersely. "You hope somebody that comes after you will do the job. I have to trust my teammates and my manager."
Fox did not cost Martinez a win this time, but he again walked off the field with a loss after the Red Sox rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning with the help of four walks by Orioles closer Jorge Julio.
After retiring Gary Matthews on a flyout, Fox walked B.J. Surhoff and Jeff Conine followed with a double down the left field line. Fox intentionally walked Jay Gibbons to load the bases and then fell behind 3-0 on Batista. He came back with two strikes and Batista fouled off the sixth pitch before Fox threw a pitch inside and high to force in pinch runner Melvin Mora with the winning run.
"I didn't pitch aggressively at the beginning and got beat," Fox said. "I take full blame. I flat out did not get it done."
The Boston bullpen, which is operating under closer-by-committee, twice squandered three-run leads in its first two games at Tampa Bay and Ramiro Mendoza yielded four ninth-inning runs in an 8-7 win here on Friday. Mendoza was saved the embarrassment of blowing a five-run lead when shortstop Nomar Garciaparra fired a perfect relay throw to the plate to nail Deivi Cruz for the final out.
Martinez, who yielded an unearned run in seven innings at Tampa Bay, allowed just one run and four hits in eight innings. He struck out six and walked none, but was abandoned by his offense, which managed just three hits off five Baltimore pitchers.
Baltimore starter Jason Johnson gave up just one hit - an infield single to Manny Ramirez in the second inning - over 6 1/3 innings in his season debut.
"I knew I had to step it up against him (Martinez)," said Johnson, who was 5-14 last season. "I was on top of the ball all day. That's a good sign for me. You want to pitch good right out of the chute. It kind of sets the tone for me on what the season is going to be like."
Orioles manager Mike Hargrove lifted Johnson after David Ortiz led off the seventh with a comebacker that caromed off Johnson's glove to catcher Geronimo Gil, who threw Ortiz out at first.
"Jason was absolutely outstanding," Hargrove said. "He went pitch-for-pitch with Pedro. At close to 100 pitches (97), we decided to take him out."
Buddy Groom and Rick Baueur took the Orioles to the ninth when Julio encountered control problems. Ramirez drew the first of the four walks to lead off the inning. Pinch runner Damian Jackson stole second and continued to third on an errant throw by Gil. Julio then walked Jeremy Giambi, struck out Bill Mueller and walked Kevin Millar to load the bases.
Julio, who had 25 saves last season, bounced back with a strikeout of Jason Varitek, but walked Johnny Damon on five pitches to force in the tying run.
B.J. Ryan (2-0) relieved Julio and struck out pinch hitter Shea Hillenbrand to end the inning.
The Orioles scored the first earned run of the season off Martinez in the sixth inning to snap a scoreless tie. Jerry Hairston tripled to the gap in right-center and came home when Matthews hit a sharp grounder to first. Ortiz backhanded the grounder and stepped on first, but his throw home was too late to get Hairston, who touched the outside part of the plate with his hand.
"I guess that's what you call a productive out," Matthews said. "Jerry was key on that play. He got things going for us."
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Orioles while the Red Sox had their four-game winning streak halted.
