BOSTON -- Pokey Reese ended Pedro Martinez's winning night on a very high note.
Boston's second baseman soared to snare a liner by Dave Roberts, the last batter Martinez faced, ending a seventh-inning threat in the Red Sox's 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night.
"I timed my jump perfectly," the 5-foot-11 Reese said. "I've dunked a couple of times in the gym, but I don't jump that high that often."
Reese hung in the air and caught the ball in the webbing of his glove -- depriving Roberts of a possible double, leaving runners at first and second and preserving the 4-1 lead.
"It's his game and it's his win," Martinez said. "He deserves all the credit. He also got the key RBI."
Reese doubled in the game's last two runs in a three-run fourth, but Boston got him in the offseason for his defense after he spent seven seasons in the NL.
"I've seen Pokey do a few things like that," Los Angeles manager Jim Tracy said. "I've also seen Pedro do things like he did tonight."
Tracy was the bench coach for Montreal while Martinez pitched for the Expos before joining the Red Sox in 1998.
On Sunday, Martinez (7-3) worked seven innings against the team he started his career with, allowing one run, seven hits and two walks and striking out five.
"His command he's had his entire career ... has just continued to get better," Tracy said.
Martinez withstood several threats after allowing a run in the first as the Red Sox won for the sixth time in eight games and he improved to 3-0 in his last five starts.
Keith Foulke pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances.
"Pedro looked to me, in the first inning, just not very comfortable," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "Once he got in the groove, I thought he was really good."
In the seventh, with two outs and a runner on first, Alex Cora hit a sharp single that went off shortstop Nomar Garciaparra's glove as he tried to backhand it.
Then, Roberts hit his liner and Reese jumped and left to chants of "Pokey, Pokey," from Boston's 97th straight sellout crowd.
"I was thinking about a double," Roberts said. "He just kept going up like he was on an escalator."
How high did he jump?
"High enough," Reese said.
Martinez reached the majors with the Dodgers in 1992, and pitched 65 games for them -- 63 in relief -- while going 10-5 with a 2.61 ERA in 1993. Los Angeles traded him to Montreal before the 1994 season, when he became a starter -- and went on to win three Cy Young awards.
Reese gave the Red Sox a 4-1 lead with a two-run double that knocked Hideo Nomo (3-7) out of the game in the fourth. Nomo made his second start against the Red Sox since he pitched a no-hitter for them on April 4, 2001, at Baltimore.
Garciaparra led off the inning with a walk, Kevin Millar was hit by a pitch with one out and Gabe Kapler doubled in a run before Reese's drive high off the left-field wall.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by Roberts, a sacrifice by Cesar Izturis and a single by Milton Bradley.
Boston tied it in the bottom of the first when Johnny Damon singled, got his 250th career stolen base and scored on a single by Manny Ramirez.
Both teams failed to capitalize on several opportunities.
Bradley was thrown out trying to take second on his first-inning single, then was picked off after leading off the fourth with a walk. Replays showed he was safe, and Bradley argued in vain with first-base umpire Mark Carlson.
Roberts was stranded after a two-out triple in the fifth. In the sixth, Paul Lo Duca lined out to Reese, who doubled Shawn Green off first.
Boston failed to score with runners at first and third in the third, then stranded a runner at second in the fourth and runners at first and second in the fifth.
Notes
- Boston RHP Curt Schilling is scheduled for a third MRI on his sore right ankle Thursday, one day after his expected start at Colorado.
- Los Angeles reliever Paul Shuey, on the disabled list with an injured right thumb, threw about 30 pitches before Sunday's game and said he's 1½ weeks away from rejoining the team.
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