AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Yankees Battle Past Athletics

What started as a shouting match between Buck Showalter, the manager of the New York Yankees, and Tony La Russa, his counterpart with the Oakland Athletics, almost turned into a full-fledged brawl Sunday at New York.

Showalter and La Russa were at first just shouting from the dugouts, but then both came charging onto the field and their players came running after them.

However, before any blows were struck, Frank Howard, the former Dodger slugger who is now a Yankee coach, stepped in and pulled Showalter away. Howard, who is 6 feet 7 and weighs at least 300, made an ideal peacemaker.

Both managers were ejected.

The incident occurred in the fourth inning with the Yankees leading, 4-0. They went on to rout Dave Stewart and the Athletics, 11-2.

Stewart (2-4) gave up seven walks and seven runs in five-plus innings.

Apparently, the trouble started when Showalter took exception to comments La Russa was yelling at catcher Matt Nokes.

“Tony La Russa is trying to intimidate us a little bit, a young manager with a young team,” said Pat Kelly of the Yankees, who hit a three-run homer. “Maybe there wasn’t a rivalry between the teams before, but there is now.”

Showalter said the Yankees weren’t going to let the Athletics intimidate them.

“Tony was hollering at Nokes,” Showalter said. “The past couple of years I’ve noticed him shout at Nokes for a variety of things. I told Matt if he shouted anything I wanted to know about it.”

There was earlier trouble this season when Kelly hit a home run in Oakland and was hit in the back with a pitch the next time up.

Of Sunday’s incident, La Russa said Showalter’s version was “real inaccurate,” adding: “I don’t know what the history is that he’s talking about. The only comment I have is that it has absolutely nothing to do with gamesmanship.”

Chicago 14, Baltimore 10--After scoring only five runs in their previous four games, the White Sox got their offense going at Chicago against Oriole pitcher Ben McDonald.

McDonald (5-1) gave up eight hits and seven runs in five innings. The White Sox scored five more in the sixth to build a 12-6 lead.

Steve Sax, the No. 2 hitter in the White Sox lineup, began the game with only six runs batted in. He got five in this game with two triples and a sacrifice fly.

Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura and Tim Raines hit home runs for the White Sox. Raines, who has been in a slump all season, also had two doubles and a single to raise his average 26 points to .246.

Seattle 3, Toronto 2--Randy Johnson was pitching a six-hit shutout with only three walks through eight innings at Toronto before he walked the bases loaded in the ninth.

Mike Schooler came on to earn his ninth save, but only after the Blue Jays scored twice and loaded the bases. Kelly Gruber flied out to end the game.

Minnesota 9, Cleveland 5--Kirby Puckett hit a three-run home run in the first inning at Cleveland to get Kevin Tapani (3-4) off to a good start.

Pedro Munoz hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to break a tie and give the Twins the lead for good.

Texas 2, Milwaukee 1--Jeff Huson tripled in the 10th inning at Milwaukee to drive in Al Newman with the run that ended the Rangers’ five-game losing streak.

Jaime Navarro was working on a five-hitter with two out and nobody on when he walked Newman. Newman stole second and scored easily on Huson’s drive that landed on the warning track in right-center.

Kansas City 2, Detroit 1--Gregg Jefferies singled home Keith Miller with one out in the ninth inning at Kansas City to win the game.

Mark Gubicza gave up six hits and won his fourth in a row.