All’s Well Between Morgan, Knight

Mike Morgan was repentant. Ray Knight was forgiving. Jim Bowden was happy.

And with that, the feud between Cincinnati Reds manager Knight and starting pitcher Morgan was over Thursday, as were rumors that the right-hander would be traded.

“He’s going to pitch for us,” Bowden, the team’s general manager, said after a team meeting. “Both of them have acted like gentlemen. Both men have apologized.”

Knight and Morgan exchanged words last Friday at the Houston Astrodome after Knight sent pitching coach Don Gullett to the mound while Morgan had a 1-2 count on Derek Bell. Morgan retired Bell for the final out of the fifth inning to preserve a 3-2 lead.

When Morgan reached the dugout, he exchanged angry remarks with Knight and refused to return to the game for the sixth inning. Knight later left the bench to confront Morgan, who had just showered.

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The Philadelphia Phillies substituted Mark Leiter for Curt Schilling as the starter for Saturday’s game against Florida. The move means the Leiter brothers--Mark and Al of the Marlins--will pitch against each for the first time in the majors. . . . Atlanta center fielder Kenny Lofton was placed on the 15-day disabled list again Thursday because of a continuing sore left groin. Lofton had been reinstated from the disabled list last Saturday at Montreal, playing in one game before the All-Star break. . . . Catcher Todd Hundley of the New York Mets skipped the All-Star game to be with his ailing mother in Chicago, who has cancer cells in her liver and lung. Betty Hundley, who was treated for breast cancer six years ago, has had a recurrence and is undergoing radical chemotherapy.