Martinez PItches Cardinals Win, Cubs Claim Victory In 10th

Carlos Martinez shook off a slow start on the mound, and also a fastball that bruised his pitching arm and left him face down in the batter's box. Martinez struck out nine in seven innings Tuesday to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 4-3.

The young right-hander trailed 3-0 after 1 1/3 innings before settling down. He retired the final seven batters he faced, including three after taking a 94-mph fastball in the shoulder while trying to bunt in the seventh.

"At that moment I thought, `Oh my God, it's broken," said Martinez (8-3). "But a couple of minutes later I felt great and said I can go the next inning."

With family and friends from his native Dominican Republic in the crowd, including some who had never seen him pitch, Martinez was overthrowing early. He gave up a two-run homer in the first inning to major league home run and RBI leader Giancarlo Stanton, a shot estimated at 484 feet.

Martinez allowed eight hits and walked one. He improved to 5-1 with a 1.33 ERA in his past seven starts.

Cubs 1, Dodgers 0

Facing a five-man infield with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, Chris Denorfia did exactly what he wanted to do. Denorfia hit a game-ending sacrifice fly, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 on Tuesday night for their fourth consecutive victory.

"Obviously that's a situation where I know that all I need to do is hit a fly ball," Denorfia said. "So I tried to just take a deep breath and not try to do too much. Just get a ball that was up in the zone and just get the bottom half of it."

Jason Motte (5-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win, finishing a three-hitter for Jason Hammel and three relievers. The Cubs' major league-leading eighth victory in extra innings put them nine games over .500 (39-30) for the first time since they were 57-48 in 2009.

"We don't quit," Hammel said. "We're going to keep coming."

White Sox 6, Twins 2

The Chicago White Sox woke up their lagging lineup. Jeff Samardzija appreciated the support -- and enjoyed the show. Samardzija struck out seven batters in seven innings for just his second win in nine starts on the road this season, and the White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 6-2 Tuesday to snap a seven-game losing streak away from Chicago.

"This is the kind of game that we expect every day to have," said Jose Abreu, through his translator, after a career-high four hits.

Geovany Soto had two RBI singles and Melky Cabrera drove in the go-ahead run on a two-out single seventh to give Samardzija (5-4) the victory, sending Twins starter Mike Pelfrey (5-4) to his first loss in seven starts at home this year. The White Sox stopped another slide by topping three runs for the first time in 10 games, their longest such run since 1976.

Tuesday, June 23 Scoreboard

Philadelphia 11, New York Yankees 6

Washington 3, Atlanta 1

Pittsburgh 7, Cincinnati 6

Baltimore 6, Boston 4

Detroit 7, Cleveland 3

St. Louis 4, Miami 3

Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 3

Oakland 8, Texas 6

Chicago Cubs 1, Los Angeles Dodgers 0 (F/10)

Milwaukee 3, New York Mets 2

Chicago White Sox 6, Minnesota 2

AColorado 10, Arizona 5

Houston 13, Los Angeles Angels 3

Seattle 7, Kansas City 0

San Diego 3, San Francisco 2 (F/11)

Wednesday, June 24 Schedule (All Times Central)

Detroit at Cleveland, 11:10 a.m.

Toronto at Tampa Bay, 11:10 a.m.

Philadelphia at New York, 12:05 p.m.

Chicago at Minnesota, 12:10 p.m.

Houston at Los Angeles, 2:35 p.m.

Atlanta at Washington 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Baltimore at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles at Chicago, 7:00 p.m.

Oakland at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

New York at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

Kansas City at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

San Diego at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.