It was another one of those elbow-grease games for Pedro Martinez, who dug deep into his arsenal of pitches to get through seven smoldering innings last night against the Brewers.

Martinez allowed only three runs, struck out eight batters and gave the Mets every chance to win. But when he turned the ball over to the bullpen, all Pedro could do was sit and watch the relief squad erase the 4-3 lead the Mets had after 105 pitches (75 for strikes).

It was as if he had dunked the ball in gasoline before Roberto Hernandez and Braden Looper took over with a slim lead.

On this night, Pedro was surgical and precise, baffling the Brewer hitters with breaking balls that were off the charts. But the relievers again turned to arsonists in a 6-4 loss to the Brewers.

Martinez allowed two runs to cross in the second inning on a couple of doubles and a two-out single. Martinez gave up a leadoff double to Carlos Lee and then a two-out, two-bagger to Damian Miller for the first run of the game. J.J. Hardy followed with a run-scoring single before Martinez got out of the frame.

Between then and Bill Hall’s leadoff home run in the seventh, Martinez was virtually untouchable. Between the fourth and sixth innings, he struck out six of 10 batters, holding down the Brewers while the Mets took a 4-2 lead.

Martinez was at his best when he struck out the side in the sixth, getting Milwaukee’s 3-4-5 hitters out 1-2-3, perhaps his most dazzling inning in a Mets uniform. But Martinez had one more hiccup on the night when he gave up the leadoff homer to Hall that cut the Mets’ lead to 4-3.

Martinez delivered his 100th pitch two batters later when he gave up a one-out single to Hardy but got out of the seventh without allowing any more damage on a hot and sweaty night in Flushing.

Hernandez and Looper self-destructed in the eighth and ninth innings with Martinez on the bench, allowing the Brewers to take a 6-4 lead before the Mets came to the plate for their final at-bats.

Martinez went seven innings, allowed eight hits, three runs, walked two and struck out eight. He also was charged with his second consecutive no-decision.