Suspensions and Calm Follow the Storm

The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles did all their hitting Wednesday night with bats, not fists.

A day after the teams tangled in one of baseball’s most furious fights in recent years, it was a tame evening with no signs of trouble as the Yankees handed the Orioles their seventh straight loss, 9-6, at New York.

“I think everybody thought, ‘Turn the page, yesterday doesn’t count,’ ” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said.

Three batters were hit by pitches, and all took their bases without incident as both clubs were on their best behavior. Before the game, Torre and Oriole Manager Ray Miller both spoke to their teams about further problems.

“I thought our guys handled it well,” Miller said. “I didn’t think there was any retaliation.”

Just in case, however, there were extra police at the ballpark. Major league baseball put security people around the Orioles’ third-base dugout, where several brawls wound up Tuesday night.

In the ninth inning, a fan in the upper deck threw a baseball that landed near Baltimore hitter Jeff Reboulet and rolled into the Orioles’ bench. But that act did not cause even a ripple of commotion.

Derek Jeter tripled, doubled and singled and Tim Raines drove in three runs for the Yankees in their fourth straight win. Scott Brosius homered and Jorge Posada doubled twice as New York handed the Orioles their first seven-game losing streak since June 1995.

The league office handed down several suspensions to players for their roles in the fight.

Baltimore reliever Armando Benitez was suspended for eight games for intentionally throwing at Tino Martinez. Darryl Strawberry and Graeme Lloyd of the Yankees were suspended for three games each for “overly aggressive behavior, fighting and prolonging the violent incident.” Alan Mills of the Orioles and Jeff Nelson of the Yankees were suspended two games apiece.

“The severity of the discipline reflects the gravity of the offenses,” league president Gene Budig said. “Mr. Benitez not only intentionally threw at Martinez, but the location of the pitch was extremely dangerous and could have seriously injured the player.”

The suspensions of Strawberry and Benitez will start immediately. Mills’ suspension will start after Benitez’s is completed.

Lloyd’s suspension will start when Strawberry’s is over, and Nelson’s starts when Lloyd’s is completed.

Texas 8, Seattle 7--Lee Stevens hit two homers and the Rangers took advantage of another collapse by Seattle’s bullpen to rally from a six-run deficit at Arlington, Texas.

Tom Goodwin drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly.

Fernando Tatis led off the inning with a triple off the top of the scoreboard in left off Mike Timlin (1-3). Goodwin then flied out to left, and Tatis tagged up and slid home safely after a high throw from Rob Ducey.

Seattle’s Alex Rodriguez hit a pair of solo homers to give him a league-leading 18. It was the sixth two-homer game of his career and second in five days.

Cleveland 14, Kansas City 5--Kenny Lofton drove in a career-high five runs and Travis Fryman homered at Kansas City.

Lofton drove in two runs with a third inning single, had a sacrifice fly in the fifth and capped a six-run sixth inning with a two-run homer, his fourth of the season.

Fryman, who also singled and doubled, put the Indians in front earlier in the sixth with a three-run home run off Kansas City starter Tim Belcher, who gave up 11 hits and 10 runs in 5 2/3 innings.

The loss was the fifth in a row and ninth in the last 11 for the Royals, who fell to 6-17 at home. Cleveland has scored 30 runs in the first two games of the series, the most Kansas City has ever given up in consecutive games.

Toronto 9, Tampa Bay 1--Jose Canseco hit one of four Blue Jay home runs at Toronto.

Pat Hentgen gave up nine hits and one walk in eight innings, striking out seven as he won his third straight start.

Alex Gonzalez, Jose Cruz Jr. and Shawn Green also homered for Toronto, which won its second straight game.

Cruz’s homer, his second, was his first extra-base hit since opening day.

Boston 6, Chicago 2--Pedro Martinez scattered four hits over seven innings at Boston to improve to 5-0 and Mo Vaughn hit his 12th home run.

Martinez struck out five and walked two, giving up one run to lower his ERA to 1.74. He leads the league in strikeouts (88), innings pitched (72 1/3) and winning percentage (1.000).

Vaughn homered in the first inning to give Boston a 1-0 lead.

The first baseman also walked and scored in the fifth inning thanks to smart baserunning in a game that was otherwise filled with gaffes.

The White Sox wasted consecutive singles to lead off the third inning when both Charlie O’Brien and Caruso were thrown out trying to stretch for a double. In the fourth, Boston made all three outs on the basepaths, but at least managed to get two runs out of it.