Orioles and Calm Prevail Against Yankees’ Wells

This time, the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees remained calm in the midst of a potentially volatile situation.

The Orioles ended David Wells’ eight-game winning streak with a 7-4 victory Monday night at Baltimore, yet that was only a tiny part of the storyline in a game that included a scene eerily similar to the one that started a brawl between the teams in New York on May 19.

Yankee reliever Mike Stanton hit Eric Davis with a pitch immediately after giving up a seventh-inning solo homer to Rafael Palmeiro that made it 6-4. Last month, Oriole reliever Armando Benitez hit Tino Martinez with a fastball after yielding a home run to Bernie Williams.

On that occasion, the pitch struck Martinez right in the back, between the ‘2’ and the ‘4’ on his jersey. Stanton hit Davis, who also wears No. 24, between the numbers.

No one except Yankee Manager Joe Torre left this bench this time after Stanton was ejected by home plate umpire John Hirschbeck. Torre contended that Stanton was not intentionally throwing at Davis.

“It was absolutely a mistake,” Stanton said. “I apologized to him and hopefully that’ll be it. That was one that got away.”

Davis, who left the game, said his back was “real sore.” But he wasn’t mad.

“He says he didn’t do it on purpose, so all I can do is take his word for it,” Davis said.

Benitez, who still claims his pitch got away from him, received an eight-game suspension last month.

“As I said with Benitez, the guilt or truth lies within the guy who threw the ball,” said Baltimore Manager Ray Miller, who instructed his team not to retaliate. “We’ll have to see if justice is as swift and severe in the state of Maryland as in the state of New York.”

It wasn’t the only controversial moment of the night. Torre and Hirschbeck clashed in the sixth inning after the decisive run crossed the plate. Wells (8-2) was unbeaten in 11 starts since April 2 and was 5-0 in his last five appearances, including a perfect game against Minnesota on May 17. The left-hander was locked in a 4-4 duel with Scott Erickson before the Orioles took the lead in the sixth.

Kansas City 7, Cleveland 6--Jeff King hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning at Cleveland to power the Royals, and hand the Indians their fourth consecutive loss.

Hal Morris singled against Jose Mesa (3-3) to open the 10th. King followed with his 12th homer into the center-field bleachers.

Jeff Montgomery (1-3) got the win despite giving up three runs in the ninth for his third blown save. Matt Whisenant gave up one run in the 10th before picking up his first save.

The Indians scored in the ninth on a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Manny Ramirez and a two-run pinch-hit single with two outs by Sandy Alomar Jr.

Detroit 3, Minnesota 2--Brian Moehler remained unbeaten at home and Bobby Higginson homered as the Tigers ended a six-game home losing streak.

Moehler (6-5), who is 6-0 with a 1.98 earned-run average at Detroit, pitched 7 2/3 innings, giving up solo homers to Todd Walker and Matt Lawton. Todd Jones got his 10th save.

Brad Radke (8-5) lost for only the second time in his last seven decisions. He gave up three runs on eight hits, struck out four and walked none in eight innings.

Tampa Bay 8, Toronto 7--Kevin Stocker’s sacrifice fly capped a three-run eighth inning at St. Petersburg, Fla., for the Devil Rays, who came back after squandering a five-run lead.

Quinton McCracken homered twice to drive in four runs and Wade Boggs celebrated his 40th birthday with a solo homer for the Devil Rays.

Rick White (1-3) pitched a perfect inning for the victory.

Chicago 3, Boston 2--Rookie Jim Parque pitched seven strong innings and the White Sox scored three runs in the fifth inning at Chicago to halt Boston’s four-game winning streak.

Parque (2-0), making his fifth major league start, gave up one run and four hits over seven innings--the longest outing of his career. He struck out four and walked three.

Jim Leyritz’s second run-scoring single of the game made it 3-2 in the eighth, but Matt Karchner got the last four outs for his eighth save.