Whether his team wins by 14 or loses by nine, Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez just keeps on hitting.
Martinez looks to extend the longest current hitting streak in the major leagues going when the Indians meet the Baltimore Orioles in the finale of their three-game series at Camden Yards on Thursday.
Martinez's hitting streak reached 14 games as he homered in the Indians' 18-9 loss on Wednesday. He had three hits, including a homer, in Indians' 15-1 rout in the series opener on Tuesday.
For the season, Martinez is batting .407, good for fourth in the AL behind the Tigers' Chris Shelton, teammate Casey Blake and the Orioles' Ramon Hernandez.
Martinez hit in a career-high 17 in a row from June 17-July 6.
He will be looking for his first career hit off Baltimore's Erik Bedard (3-0, 2.25 ERA), who gets the start for Baltimore. In five at-bats, Martinez has struck out three times, and has just one RBI.
Bedard will try to join Boston's Curt Schilling as they only pitchers to win their first four decisions. Bedard - who has won only six games each of the last two seasons - has been the O's ace in 2006. He has allowed just five runs and 20 hits in 20 innings pitched with 11 strikeouts and just five walks.
The left-hander lasted eight innings Saturday, and allowed two runs and season-high eight hits in a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
He will be opposed by rookie Fausto Carmona (1-0, 1.50), who is making his second career start for the Indians. He gave up a run and five hits with two walks and four strikeouts Saturday in Cleveland's 7-2 win over the Tigers.
Both teams have combined for 43 runs and 63 hits in the two games. The Indians (9-6) had defeated Baltimore (9-7) five straight times before Wednesday's loss.
'It was a bad night all the way around,' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. 'It's one game.'
The Indians also lost two relievers to injury Wednesday. Matt Miller, who replaced starter Jake Westbrook, strained an elbow and appears headed to the disabled list. Rafael Betancourt came on to replace Miller, but left with a strained upper back after facing just two batters.
Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo was pleased with the way his team rebounded after the double-digit loss and an early four-run deficit.
'They really showed me some character tonight,' he said. 'When we came in the dugout and it was 7-3, they were still chirping about coming back. Miguel Tejada was saying, 'Let's go, we can get them.' After last night and being down 7-3, they showed me something tonight.' </BLOCK></BODY.CONTENT>