Spoljaric Ignites Brawl; Blue Jays Fall

The Toronto Blue Jays continued to struggle and Paul Spoljaric finally took out his frustration, igniting a bench-clearing brawl.

Jacque Jones had a career-high four runs batted in Tuesday night and his three-run homer was followed by the fight as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 14-3, at Toronto.

It was the Blue Jays’ fourth loss in five games.

After giving up seven runs in the fourth inning and hearing fans mock him, Spoljaric’s next pitch sailed over Cristian Guzman’s head.

Guzman immediately charged the mound and tackled Spoljaric and both benches and bullpens emptied. Guzman and Spoljaric, who received a black eye in the fracas, were ejected.

“I just felt that they were diving into my pitches and I was going to put a stop to it,” Spoljaric said. “I didn’t mean to come that high. I had poor command all night and the ball got away from me.”

Guzman, who had two at-bats in the inning, led off with a grounder to third baseman Tony Fernandez, who let it slip under his glove for an error. Marty Cordova drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and after Todd Walker struck out--for what would have been the third out--a walk and three singles preceded Jones’ homer. All seven runs were unearned.

“I couldn’t understand why he threw the ball over my head, so I went after him,” Guzman said through an interpreter.

Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly couldn’t understand either.

“He threw it over my man’s head, not his chest, or butt, or his leg,” Kelly said. “But that’s where all his pitches were anyway, they were all up high. He had a rough night.”

Oakland 3, New York 2--Pinch-hitter Rich Becker hit an RBI single with two out in the 11th inning at New York and the A’s won despite stranding 17 runners.

The A’s left the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth, and left two on in the ninth. They finally scored in the 11th. Ramiro Mendoza (6-8) walked Jason Giambi to lead off the inning. With two out, Olmedo Saenz hit a slow roller off the end of his bat to right field to put runners on first and second.

Becker followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Giambi without a throw as Paul O’Neill bobbled the ball in right field.

Seattle 11, Chicago 4--Alex Rodriguez hit two solo homers for the Mariners at Chicago.

Raul Ibanez’s three-run homer keyed a five-run fourth inning for Seattle, which won its third in a row. The Mariners have outscored the White Sox, 30-12, in the last three meetings.

It was Rodriguez’s 11th multihomer game and fifth this year. Rodriguez, who sat out the first five weeks of the season after knee surgery, has 35 homers, all coming after May 14, in only 97 games.

Tampa Bay 3, Baltimore 0--Rookie Ryan Rupe (8-7) gave up two infield hits over seven innings at Baltimore as the Devil Rays escaped the American League East cellar.

Former Oriole Aaron Ledesma had two hits and drove in a run for the Devil Rays, who had been in last place since July 20.

Boston 6, Kansas City 3--Jose Offerman scored on pinch-hitter Mike Stanley’s sacrifice fly to break a seventh-inning tie at Boston.

Detroit 14, Texas 6--Tony Clark broke a tie with a two-run double to spark an eight-run seventh inning at Detroit.