By CHRIS BRANAM
Valley Press Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO - They came to see Ramon Martinez test out his right shoulder.
But the 4,783 fans who flocked to The Ranch ended up seeing Martinez upstaged by two of his Dominican Republic countrymen.
Damaso Marte threw seven shutout innings and Joel Ramirez drove in the game's only run on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly as the Lancaster JetHawks beat the San Bernardino Stampede 1-0 Wednesday night.
"If you never win a 1-0 game," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said, "then you probably won't win the pennant."
By winning for the fifth time in six games, the JetHawks (25-15) moved into a first place tie with the Modesto A's in the California League's Valley Division standings. The A's lost 2-1 at San Jose.
Lancaster overcame a rehabilitation start by the Dodgers' Martinez, who threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings and gave up two hits - both to Cirilo Cruz.
Marte (5-6) also gave up two hits - over seven innings.
He combined with Sean Spencer on the JetHawks' second shutout of the season. Spencer threw two innings of scoreless relief and picked up his 12th save.
It was a gutty performance for Marte, a 22-year-old left-hander from Martinez's hometown of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
"(Marte) matched Ramon Martinez pitch-for-pitch and he just kept going," Burleson said. "He responded like the No. 1 or 2 pitcher on the staff that he is."
He struggled with his control in the early innings. He walked one in the first, three in the third and one in the fourth.
But he was able to get out of every inning unscathed. Two Stampede runners getting thrown out trying to steal second helped.
In the first, catcher David Skeels cut down Rolando Avila (41 stolen bases), and in the third Marte alertly threw to second to get Jack Jones, who tried a delayed steal.
There were more sparkling defensive plays by the JetHawks to come.
With one out and a runner on first in the fourth, Tony Mota hit a grounder toward second that appeared for a second to be headed into center field. But Ramirez made the stop, stepped on second for the forceout and in the same motion, threw to first to complete the double play.
Then in the fifth, Cliff Anderson hit a ball that Luis Molina fielded deep in the hole at shortstop. Molina made a strong throw to first to get Anderson by a step.
Marte responded to each play with a fist pump; he showed a little bit more emotion in this start than in any other.
It could have been that he was pitching against Martinez or that he genuinely seems to have turned the corner on his season.
In his last two starts, Marte has allowed just one run in 14 innings.
As hot as Marte was, the JetHawks' bats were cold against first Martinez, then left-hander Casey Deskins.
Deskins only allowed two baserunners over the next three innings, but he was forced from the game with one out in the eighth when Molina and Mathis hit backto-back singles.
Ramirez followed with his fly ball to center field off reliever Jeff Paluk that scored Molina and ended the JetHawks' string of scoreless innings at 19.
"That was a good bit of hitting," Burleson said. "That's what situational hitting is all about."