PHILADELPHIA — Pedro Martinez relished the playoff atmosphere and brought his best stuff.

Martinez tossed seven impressive innings to outpitch Tim Lincecum, Ryan Howard doubled in the tiebreaking run and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on Thursday night.

Martinez (3-0) struck out a season-high nine in his fifth start since signing with the Phillies during the All-Star break, allowing one run and five hits. He didn’t walk a batter and threw just 87 pitches in his longest outing since last Aug. 21 with the New York Mets.

“I have a great sense of satisfaction to show I’m able to still do it even if I’m not 100 percent there yet,” Martinez said. “I wanted this kind of game. I want to help this team win not just now, but in the future.”

Jayson Werth homered for the NL East-leading Phillies, who are 16-6 since getting swept by Florida at home last month.

Eugenio Velez hit a leadoff homer for the Giants, who remained one game behind Colorado in the NL wild-card race.

The 37-year-old Martinez, plagued by injuries and inconsistency during his last three seasons with the Mets, looked like the guy who won three Cy Young Awards and was one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation.

Martinez had plenty of pop on his fastball, often reaching the low 90s on the radar gun, and mixed in an effective changeup.

Lincecum (13-5) was the tough-luck loser for the Giants, who’ve scored the second-fewest runs in the NL. Lincecum struck out 11 in seven innings, allowing two runs and four hits. It was the seventh time this season the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner gave up two earned runs or less and didn’t get a win.

Mets 8, Rockies 3: At Denver, David Wright drove in three runs and Pat Misch pitched seven solid innings to earn his first major league win.

Brewers 4, Cardinals 3: At St. Louis, Casey McGehee hit a two-run homer off John Smoltz after the Cardinals failed to turn a double play, and the Brewers avoided a three-game sweep.

Marlins 8, Braves 3: At Miami, Hanley Ramirez hit a tying, pinch-hit single and scored the go-ahead run in his first game since teammate Dan Uggla publicly challenged his effort.

Ramirez’s single in the sixth off Kris Medlen (3-5) made it 3-all. The NL batting leader easily made it to second on the play when right fielder Matt Diaz let the ball skip by him for an error, then scored on Cody Ross’ double to highlight a six-run inning.

Dodgers 4, Arizona 2: At Los Angeles, Jon Garland, facing the team that traded him to the Dodgers just three days earlier, retired his last 14 batters and Manny Ramirez homered to lift the NL West leaders.

Garland (9-11) gave up two runs and five hits over seven innings, including a solo homer by Stephen Drew.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Red Sox 6, Rays 3: Clay Buchholz finally beat someone other than Toronto this season, and it helped the Red Sox get a key win over Tampa Bay.

Buchholz (4-3) allowed three runs and six hits over six innings, and the AL wild-card leading Red Sox hurt Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes.

Buchholz was 0-3 in six previous starts this year in non-Blue Jays games.

The Red Sox won their first series at Tropicana Field since Sept. 21-23, 2007 by winning two of three. Boston dropped the defending AL champion Rays to six games back in the wild-card race. Texas is three games behind the Red Sox.

Tigers 4, Indians 3: At Detroit, Placido Polanco hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning and the Tigers completed a three-game sweep and increased their lead in the AL Central to five games over the idle Twins.

Yankees 10, Blue Jays 5: At Toronto, Jorge Posada homered and drove in four runs, Alex Rodriguez also homered and the Yankees won their seventh straight.

The AL East leaders won for the 14th time in 17 road games.

Posada’s homer was his 20th, giving New York a major league-leading seven players with at least that many — the first time the Yankees have done it in team history.

Mariners 7, Athletics 4: At Oakland, Calif., Bill Hall, Franklin Gutierrez and Kenji Johjima each hit two-run homers to help Ian Snell (4-1) win his fourth straight start.

Ken Griffey Jr. returned to the Seattle lineup after missing six games with inflammation in his left knee. He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. He also said before the game that he’s open to returning to the Mariners next year if the situation is right for both himself and the club.

INTERLEAGUE

White Sox 5, Cubs 0: At Chicago, Carlos Torres threw seven crisp innings, Dewayne Wise made a great throw to cut down a runner at the plate and the White Sox won a makeup game between the city rivals.

Torres (1-0) earned his first major league win in his third career start.

Wise, whose highlight-reel catch preserved Mark Buehrle’s perfect game back in July, made a strong throw from right field to nail Jake Fox at the plate and preserve a 1-0 lead in the seventh. Fox was trying to score from second on Jeff Baker’s single.