Crawford gave the Red Sox their fifth strong start in five games, striking out nine and allowing one walk, two runs and four hits in seven innings of Boston's 6-2 win Saturday over the Devil Rays.

"When you get good pitching, it gives everybody a boost. It takes some worry off the hitters," he said, but "Pedro's the man."

The Devil Rays must overcome Martinez on Sunday if they're to salvage one game of the three-game series.

"It's a big if," Tampa Bay's Ben Grieve said. "If we beat him, it's a big win."

They couldn't beat Crawford (1-0), making just his fifth major league start but baffling the Devil Rays with an assortment of fastballs, changeups and sliders.

"He shows a lot of poise," Boston manager Jimy Williams said.

Crawford is from Arkansas but handled the chilly weather -- a gametime temperature of 42 degrees -- well.

"In 1996 I pitched three games in Michigan in 30-degree weather. The snowflakes were coming down," he said. "I didn't feel the cold tonight."

He and Rod Beck retired 19 of the last 20 hitters and the nine strikeouts were a career high for Crawford, who was 2-1 with a 3.41 ERA for Boston last season. He had at least one in each of his seven innings.

He got support from another rookie with whom he roomed in Australia in winter ball in 1997. Shea Hillenbrand, who made the jump from Double-A Trenton with a strong spring training, hit his first major-league homer to give Boston the lead for good in the fourth, 3-2.

He still wonders how he'll do in the majors.

"Wondering always," Hillenbrand said, "because this is the elite level, because this is for all the peanut butter in the world."

John Flaherty's RBI single gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead in the second, Trot Nixon put Boston ahead with his second homer, a two-run shot in the bottom of the inning off Travis Harper (0-1). Tampa Bay tied it on Steve Cox's first homer in the third.

But that was the last hit the Devil Rays got as Crawford retired his last 13 batters and Beck allowed only a walk to Greg Vaughn in the last two innings.

The cold "is an excuse. They played in the same conditions we did," Tampa Bay manager Larry Rothschild said. Crawford "mixed his pitches pretty good, threw a lot of changeups."

In Boston's other four games, Martinez allowed one run in seven innings, Hideo Nomo pitched a no-hitter, Frank Castillo gave up one run in 5 1/3 innings and Tomo Ohka retired 10 of the last 12 Devil Rays he faced after allowing three runs in the first inning of Friday's 11-4 win.

"The way they threw is the way I know they're capable of throwing," said Scott Hatteberg, Saturday's catcher. "This staff is capable of shutting down anybody."

On Saturday, the batters came through, too, with 14 hits.

Manny Ramirez got his fifth RBI of the season with a fifth-inning single, and Boston made it 6-2 in the seventh on run-scoring doubles by Carl Everett and Hatteberg.

Game notes
The gametime temperature was the lowest in the Devil Rays' four major league seasons. The previous low of 45 occurred April 16, 1999, also at Fenway Park. ... Vaughn struck out on his last three at bats Friday and first three Saturday before walking in the ninth. ... Tampa Bay's 1-4 record is its worst start ever. ... Darren Lewis, the AL leader in batting average and slugging percentage in spring training, went 1-for-3 in his first start of the season. ... Each Boston starter had at least one hit.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/2001/20010407/recap/tambos.html

paul@redsox2000.com