Enrique Wilson says there’s no secret to hitting Martinez.

BOSTON (AP) – On paper, dominant pitcher Pedro Martinez against light-hitting infielder Enrique Wilson is a huge mismatch.

That’s the way it’s been on the field, too.

Maybe on Saturday the Red Sox ace will finally get the upper hand.

Because of his success against Martinez, Wilson will start at third base in place of Aaron Boone when the New York Yankees play Boston in the third game of the AL championship series, which is tied 1-1.

Wilson hit just .230 this season but batted .875 against Martinez. What makes that more impressive is that the Red Sox star limited opponents to a .215 average, the lowest in the AL.

“It just happens,” Wilson said. “I don’t have any secret. I just try to be aggressive against him.”

He went 7-for-8 against the three-time Cy Young Award winner this year and just 24-for-127 against all other pitchers.

“We’ve gone over an attack against Enrique when he faces Pedro,” Boston manager Grady Little said. “The best thing we could come up with is we’ll have (catcher) Jason Varitek tell him what kind of pitch is coming and we’ll hope that he’ll overswing and pop the ball up.”

But Wilson, a .253 hitter in 447 career games, has been careful not to do that.

“When you try to hit the ball too hard against him, I don’t think you’ve got a chance,” he said. “I hit all his pitches and I’m very confident.”

For his career, Wilson is 10-for-20 in the regular season against Martinez.

“Sometimes you get the feeling that he could go up there blindfolded and get a hit,” Little said.

Some of the Yankees’ best hitters haven’t come close to Wilson’s production, with Alfonso Soriano at .129, Jason Giambi at .179 and Bernie Williams at .190 against Martinez.

Derek Jeter couldn’t explain why a backup journeyman can hit one of baseball’s best pitchers so well.

“Sometimes there is no explanation for certain things,” Jeter said. “You don’t even try to think about it. I’m sure (Wilson) is probably not sitting down trying to analyze it.”

Martinez doesn’t talk with reporters, and Varitek couldn’t explain it.

“He’s been on quite a bit of a roll,” Varitek said. “Good pitches, bad pitches, he’s hit them all. But, hopefully, the law of averages right now bounces back in Pedro’s favor.”

Just because Wilson has made Martinez look bad doesn’t mean it will keep happening.

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past,” New York catcher Jorge Posada said. “That doesn’t mean Enrique’s going to get four hits tomorrow. It doesn’t mean that Pedro’s going to strike him out four times.”

Wilson’s success has even baffled his father, also named Enrique. The elder Wilson is a trainer in the Dominican Republic who has worked with Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Sammy Sosa and other major leaguers.

He had that job in winter baseball in the Dominican Republic with Licey when Martinez was with that team.

“He said, “I don’t know how you hit that guy so good,”‘ Wilson said. “He’s really famous … he’s like the president. So everybody loves Pedro.”

And that may not endear Wilson to his countrymen.

“Some people hate me because I hit him so well, and they told me to take it easy off him,” Wilson said. “And I said, “I don’t have anything against him. I just do my job.”‘

AP-ES-10-10-03 2015EDT