Martinez Goes 5 2/3 Innings in Minor League Start

Ramon Martinez made his third rehabilitation start with the San Bernardino Stampede, the Dodgers’ Class-A team of the California League.

Martinez pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up one earned run on two hits and no walks against San Jose on Saturday night. He struck out two.

Martinez is expected to need another minor league start before returning to the Dodger rotation.

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In a deal involving minor leaguers, the Dodgers traded first baseman Eddie Williams to the Pittsburgh Pirates for right-hander Hal Garrett.

Garrett, 22, was 1-2 at double-A Carolina with an 8.78 ERA. In 13 1/3 innings, he had seven strikeouts and six walks. Previously this season, he was at Class-A Lynchburg, where he was 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA. Garrett also had five saves. In 56 innings, he had 45 strikeouts and 22 walks.

Williams, 32, who has been with five major league clubs (Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers) and 14 minor league teams in a career that stretches back to 1983, was hitting .366 for the Albuquerque Dukes with 29 home runs and 76 RBIs.

He is expected to stick with the Pirates rather than again being sent to the minors.

Williams went one for seven earlier this season with the Dodgers, but that one hit was a game-winning single against the Montreal Expos.

“We like Hal Garrett,” Dodger Vice President Fred Claire said. “We think he has a good, young arm. And we think Eddie Williams deserved a chance to play at the major league level.”

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Claire was in a front-row seat behind the Dodger dugout at Cinergy Field on Friday night when outfielder Wayne Kirby collected three hits. It was Claire who shipped Kirby, 33, to Albuquerque earlier this season and he feels Kirby’s Friday night performance validated that decision.

“He had the game he had because of Albuquerque,” Claire said. “If he had sat on the bench [with the Dodgers] and hit two times a week, he would not have had the at-bats to have had the kind of game he had Friday night. It’s just not possible.”

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For the second year in a row, the Dodgers beat the Reds in the Farmer’s Night competition held before the game. Outfielder Billy Ashley and clubhouse attendant Dave Dickinson won the corn toss. Trainers Stan Johnston and Chang Ho Lee emerged victorious from the cow-milking battle. Only in the calf-feeding segment were the Dodgers beaten, pitcher Darren Dreifort unable to pull off the sweep.

Manager Bill Russell, who grew up in Kansas, was asked if he had ever done any farm work.

“When I was 16,” he said, “I baled hay for a summer. After that, the bonus I was offered to play ball looked awful good.”

TODAY’S GAME

DODGERS’ PEDRO ASTACIO (7-7, 3.77 ERA) vs. REDS’ MIKE REMLINGER (4-4, 3.41 ERA)

Cinergy Field, 11:15 a.m.

TV--Channel 5. Radio--KABC (790), KWKW (1330).

* Update--This is the finale of the 10-game trip, the Dodgers winning five of nine. Pedro Astacio continues to pitch well since his seven-game losing streak, having won four in a row. It would have been five had reliever Todd Worrell not given up a ninth-inning, game-tying home run to Montreal’s Darrin Fletcher. Cincinnati reliever Mike Remlinger has been forced into a starting role because of injuries to Pete Schourek and Dave Burba. Along with 55 relief appearances, Remlinger has made two starts and won them both, his ERA 1.64 for the two starts. His first save came at Dodger Stadium in May in a game the Reds won, 3-2, in 11 innings.