Yankees Win Dispute and Then the Game

Bench-clearing beanball wars are an increasingly common scene in baseball. At Chicago on Sunday, it was a balk that led to the dugouts emptying. And when the dust cleared and the New York Yankees had an 8-7 victory over the White Sox, Derek Jeter still wasn’t sure what led to the tension.

“He said, You made me balk.’ I don’t understand how I can make him balk,” said Jeter of Chicago reliever Bill Simas after the Yankees won on Chad Curtis’ homer in the 10th.

“I don’t think I was even looking at the guy. The umpire called balk, [third base coach] Willie [Randolph] called balk and I clapped my hands and then it was my fault he balked.

“I was confused. He was yelling at me and I have no idea why.”

Simas came apart at the seams as Jeter trotted home from third on the balk, capping New York’s four-run ninth and tying the score, 7-7.

He angrily went to the plate and began pointing and screaming at Jeter before both benches emptied. Order was restored quickly.

Even though Simas was told by third base umpire Tim Welke that he was the one who first called balk, the White Sox reliever wasn’t convinced.

“Some people call me crazy but you can differentiate between it coming from the crowd and coming from closer range. I know one of those guys [Randolph or Jeter] yelled ‘balk,”’ Simas said, explaining that the false calls made him flinch and prompted the real balk.

“They got me, but that’s not the way the game is supposed to be played. If that’s the way they want to play the game, then down the road we’ll meet again,” Simas said.

Cleveland 7, Detroit 4--Omar Vizquel hit a grand slam with one out in the ninth inning at Cleveland as the Indians, with some help from Detroit left fielder Juan Encarnacion, defeated the Tigers to salvage the final game of the three-game series.

Leading, 4-0, Detroit was six outs away from its first sweep in Cleveland in nearly eight years when Encarnacion dropped two routine fly balls in the eighth inning which led to two runs.

Vizquel capped Cleveland’s 17th come-from-behind victory this season with his slam off Todd Jones as the Indians got their 30th and most unlikely victory.

Until the eighth inning, Sunday’s game was relatively low key following Saturday’s ugly beanball war.

In the ninth, three consecutive singles--the last by Richie Sexson--made it 4-3. Pinch-hitter Jim Thome then walked before the Tigers cut the tying run down at the plate on a force play.

Vizquel then drove a 2-1 fastball from Jones over the wall in right-center for his third career grand slam.

Boston 10, Toronto 8--Pedro Martinez won his seventh consecutive start, though his streak of double-digit strikeout games ended at seven, and the Red Sox defeated the Blue Jays at Boston.

Martinez (9-1) fanned six in six innings, ending his bid to snap a tie with Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers since 1977 with at least 10 strikeouts in seven consecutive games.

Tom Gordon converted his 50th consecutive save chance in regular-season play, extending his major league record, by getting the last out. His seventh save of the year came after Toronto scored three runs in the ninth.

Kansas City 5, Seattle 4--Jermaine Dye hit two doubles and a triple, and also singled to key a two-run rally in the eighth inning, lifting the Royals over the Mariners for the Royals’ first winning homestand of the season.

The Mariners, looking for their first seven-game winning streak since 1996, scored three times in the eighth on David Bell’s two-run homer and Ken Griffey Jr.’s run-scoring single to take a 4-3 lead.

But the Royals came back to win on run-scoring singles by Carlos Febles and Rey Sanchez in the eighth, giving them a 4-2 homestand. Matt Whisenant retired one batter for the victory and Jeff Montgomery pitched the ninth for his fourth save in six chances.

Minnesota 8, Oakland 3--Marty Cordova went three for four with three runs batted in to help the Twins complete a three-game sweep of the Athletics, who lost their sixth consecutive game.

The Twins scored five runs in the first inning, the same number as they had in their previous four games combined. Todd Walker also had three hits as Minnesota finished with 15.

The Twins completed their first sweep of Oakland in a three-game series at the Metrodome since June 26-28, 1989.