AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Benitez Gets Angry, but Orioles Can’t Get Even

After seven rather routine innings Wednesday night at Baltimore, things got wacky in a hurry for the Orioles and Seattle Mariners.

And Randy Johnson wasn’t even pitching for the Mariners.

But Armando Benitez was pitching for the Orioles.

Edgar Martinez hit a grand slam in a wild eighth inning that featured nine Seattle runs and a bench-clearing incident, and the Mariners emerged with a 10-2 victory.

“It was just a crazy game,” said Seattle starter Chris Bosio (4-0), who was a central figure in a similar incident between the teams two years ago.

Down, 2-0, after being limited by Kevin Brown (5-3) to two singles over the first seven innings, the Mariners finally broke through in the eighth, with the key hit being Martinez’s grand slam off Benitez.

Benitez then hit Tino Martinez with a pitch, and as Martinez walked to the mound both benches and bullpens emptied. No punches were thrown.

“There’s no doubt in my mind he was throwing at me,” Martinez said.

Benitez, frustrated over another shoddy performance in a dismal season, was ready to rumble. He was restrained by teammates Brad Pennington and Jesse Orosco.

Benitez was ejected and order was quickly restored.

“We proceeded to play baseball, and that’s what we prefer,” Seattle Manager Lou Piniella said. “If you want to see fights, go to a hockey game.”

Texas 10, Kansas City 4--Mark McLemore broke out of a five-for-42 slump with a two-run homer and keyed a six-run sixth inning with an RBI single in the Rangers’ victory at Arlington, Tex.

Royal starter Tom Gordon (4-2) had a five-game winning streak over the Rangers and an overall four-game streak. But Texas rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win for the sixth time in eight games.

Toronto 4, Chicago 3--Al Leiter’s scoreless streak was snapped at 23 2/3 innings, but he won his third decision in a row with the help of a four-run fifth inning for the Blue Jays at Chicago.

A single by Lance Johnson, a walk to Frank Thomas and an RBI single by Mike Devereaux gave the White Sox a first-inning run that ended Leiter’s streak.

Milwaukee 6, Minnesota 3--Darryl Hamilton’s two-run single in the eighth inning helped the Brewers win at Minnesota, where the Twins have lost seven in a row.

Minnesota’s Scott Erickson (2-5) had a perfect game through five innings but faltered against the bottom of the Milwaukee lineup in the sixth. John Jaha doubled and scored when left fielder Marty Cordova misplayed David Hulse’s sinking liner for a triple.

Jose Valentin followed with a double off the wall in left to tie the score. He scored on Hamilton’s groundout for a 3-2 lead.

Cleveland 3, Detroit 2--Jim Thome led off the 10th inning with a home run on a 3-and-0 pitch to give the Indians a victory at Cleveland. They have won five in a row, 10 of 11 games and 10 times in their last at-bat.

Thome’s 10th homer of the season came off rookie Brian Maxcy (2-1) and made Eric Plunk (3-1), who pitched two scoreless innings, the winner.

New York 6, Oakland 1--Rookie left-hander Andy Pettitte (1-2) held the Athletics to four hits over seven innings at New York for his first major league victory and only the third for the Yankees in their last 15 games.