Boston ? Pedro Martinez is headed in the right direction again back to his Dominican Republic home for a rest after winning his fourth straight start.

Healthy at midseason for the first time in four years, Martinez allowed one hit and struck out eight in five innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-0, on Saturday. Then he planned to fly south to relax during the All-Star break.

Boston's Pedro Martinez delivers against Detroit. Martinez raised his record to 11-2, allowing one hit in five innings, as the Red Sox blanked the Tigers, 8-0, Saturday in Boston.

“It’s great the way I am going home now and sit down, relax and swim a little bit,” he said with a smile. “Just be at my house and chill, play with my flowers.”

Martinez (11-2) was chosen by New York Yankees manager Joe Torre for the All-Star game Tuesday in Milwaukee but declined so he could rest and take care of personal matters. He’ll have more than a week before his next scheduled start July 14 at Toronto.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner is as dominant as he’s been all year. In his last four starts, he’s allowed four runs, 23 hits and four walks and struck out 42 in 28 innings.

He’s done that while using more breaking balls to protect his shoulder. He started only 18 games last season the amount he’s already started this year and didn’t win after May as he struggled with a shoulder injury. He finished the season 7-3.

“I actually feel better this year than I did in ’99 and 2000 at this point,” Martinez said. “I feel normal, natural.”

Discounting his first start of the season when he allowed seven earned runs in three innings, his ERA is 2.24, which would lead the AL.

Martinez was helped by a five-run first inning against Mike Maroth (1-3) that was highlighted by Doug Mirabelli’s three-run homer. Maroth took Jeff Weaver’s spot after Weaver was traded to the New York Yankees.

“A lot of guys were stunned,” Detroit’s Robert Fick said.

And Weaver’s replacement was hit hard by the Red Sox.

“When (Martinez) got the early lead, we thought he’d challenge us,” Detroit’s Craig Paquette said, “but he just kept using the changeup and the curveball.”

That’s because Martinez wants to avoid putting strain on his arm.

“I had only given up one hit but, hey, I was thinking about the long run and the next outing,” Martinez said. “It still doesn’t matter what the results are going to be. It’s just (keeping) me in the rotation, what I mean to the rotation.”

With a 7-0 lead, manager Grady Little put in Wayne Gomes to pitch in the sixth. Gomes, Chris Haney and Willie Banks combined for four shutout innings as Detroit’s three-game winning streak ended.

“We are just doing maintenance on (Martinez) and today was the day for that,” Little said. “How about that bullpen?”

The shutout was Boston’s third in Martinez’s last four starts and the team’s major-league leading 11th. Detroit’s only two hits were singles by Ramon Santiago off Martinez in the third and by Shane Halter off Gomes in the sixth.

Blue Jays 8, Yankees 3

New York Steve Parris earned his first victory of the season and Toronto ended its six-game losing streak. Parris (1-2), making his fifth start since returning from rotator cuff surgery, held the Yankees to four hits over the first seven innings, two singles each by Nick Johnson and Robin Ventura. He walked two and struck out four.

They advanced only one runner to second base off Parris. After Johnson’s single in the third, Parris’ wild pitch let Johnson advance to second with two out but Bernie Williams lined out.

Twins 7, Mariners 2

Seattle Kyle Lohse pitched six scoreless innings and Minnesota received home runs from David Ortiz, Matthew LeCroy and Torii Hunter to beat Seattle.

Ortiz’s homer in the second ended Seattle starter Jamie Moyer’s scoreless innings string at 241/3 innings, 10 shy of the team record set by Mark Langston in 1988.

In a matchup of division leaders, both benches and bullpens emptied onto the field at the start of the fourth when Moyer (8-4) hit Ortiz in the backside with a pitch. It was in apparent retaliation to the Mariners’ Bret Boone being hit by a pitch by Lohse above the left elbow in the third.

Angels 4, Devil Rays 3

Anaheim, Calif. Darin Erstad hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the eighth inning and Tim Salmon hit a two-run homer for Anaheim’s only hit in the first six innings as the Angels beat Tampa Bay, extending the Devil Rays’ club-record road losing streak to 10 games.

Orioles 7, Rangers 5

Arlington, Texas Melvin Mora hit a tiebreaking, two-run triple in the ninth inning and Baltimore ended Texas’ four-game winning streak. With the game tied 4-all, Geronimo Gil led off the ninth with a single off Colby Lewis (1-1). After Lewis hit Mike Bordick with a pitch, Mora drove in pinch-runner Jerry Hairston and Bordick with his drive to the wall in right-center. Brian Roberts added a sacrifice fly to extend Baltimore’s lead to 7-4. Rick Bauer (4-4) pitched 12/3 innings.

White Sox 7, Indians 3

Chicago Jeff Liefer, starting in place of struggling Frank Thomas, hit a three-run homer and All-Star Mark Buehrle gained his 12th win. After Jason Phillips (0-1) walked Magglio Ordonez and hit Paul Konerko with a pitch, Liefer hit his second homer to break a 2-all tie in the sixth.