AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Chicago Wins Game, Main Event a Draw

The main event Saturday night at Chicago was a wrestling match between White Sox Manager Terry Bevington and Milwaukee Brewer Manager Phil Garner.

The bad blood between Chicago and Milwaukee boiled again as a fight erupted in the seventh inning after Milwaukee’s Jeff Cirillo and Chicago’s Ozzie Guillen got tangled up at third base.

When things calmed down, the White Sox went on to a 4-2 victory, ending their three-game losing streak.

Chicago led, 3-2, in the seventh when Guillen singled to lead off, chasing Steve Sparks (6-5). Guillen went to second on Lance Johnson’s infield single and stole third.

Cirillo, the third baseman, fell backward onto Guillen, who pushed him off, and the two exchanged words.

“It sounded like [Guillen] thought I was breaking his hand,” Cirillo said. “After about 30 seconds, it seemed like everything was clear. Then the third base coach [Doug Mansolino] said something to me and it started up again. That’s when I got upset.”

Mansolino had no comment about the fracas.

Garner and a few Brewer players came out of the dugout and went to third base, as did Bevington. Garner and Bevington exchanged words, then both benches cleared. Garner had a cut on his right cheek after the game, but claimed he cut himself shaving.

“I was going out to see what happened to Cirillo,” Garner said. “Cirillo hasn’t said ‘boo’ to anybody in two years here. [Bevington] was saying something to [Kevin] Seitzer and I got between them and then we had an escalation.”

Said Seitzer: “I think he [Bevington] was yelling at me because I was yelling at Ozzie. They were ganging up on Cirillo over there. We’re all playing hard ball, that’s it.”

After a brief scuffle, both managers were ejected.

“I went out to make sure no one attacked Ozzie,” Bevington said.

However, Guillen was among the most surprised at the short tempers.

“Everything was settled down and then some guy started talking,” said Guillen, who would not identify who he thought the instigator was.

It was the second bench-clearing fight between these teams. On June 29, then-White Sox reliever Rob Dibble threw a pitch at infielder Pat Listach’s head, prompting a fight. Dibble received a three-game suspension, but has yet to serve it because he was released by the White Sox July 16.

Kansas City 5, Baltimore 3--Vince Coleman hit a tie-breaking, two-run homer with two out in the seventh as the Royals ended a four-game losing streak by beating the Orioles at Kansas City.

Coleman, who hadn’t hit more than two homers in a season since 1990, hit his third of the year off Arthur Rhodes a few minutes after Greg Gagne’s solo shot off Rhodes (2-4) tied it 3-3.

Cleveland 6, Oakland 4--Jim Thome hit a two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning off Dennis Eckersley as the Indians beat the Athletics at Oakland to extend their winning streak to five games.

With Eckersley on the mound to preserve a 4-3 lead, Omar Vizquel singled to left with one out and stole second. Carlos Baerga was hit by a pitch, then Thome doubled down the right-field line to give Cleveland the lead.

Eckersley (2-4) then walked Manny Ramirez, and Paul Sorrento hit an RBI single.

Seattle 7, Toronto 2--Mike Blowers homered, doubled twice and drove in five runs and Tim Belcher allowed three hits in 6 2/3 innings as the Mariners beat the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Blowers went three for five with a two-run homer in the sixth, a two-run double in Seattle’s four-run seventh and a run-scoring double in the fourth.

Belcher (6-5) allowed only Devon White’s leadoff single in the first inning and a pair of hits in the seventh, striking out four and walking four.

Minnesota 8, Boston 7--Rich Becker doubled twice and drove in four runs as the Twins snapped the Red Sox’s four-game winning at Boston.

Becker’s four RBIs tied a career high. Kirby Puckett added his 12th home run.

New York 7, Texas 4--Wade Boggs ignited a six-run sixth inning with a homer and left-hander Andy Pettitte won his second consecutive decision as the Yankees beat the Rangers at New York.

In the sixth, 11 Yankees batted against Ranger starter Bob Tewksbury (7-4) and reliever Dennis Cook.