Feisty Twins Get Win Over Royals

The Minnesota Twins were at it again.

Rick Reed pitched a three-hitter and the Twins got into yet another scrape, clearing the benches late in their 7-0 win Wednesday night over the Kansas City Royals at Minneapolis.

The Twins, who have tangled with the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay this season, got into it with the Royals in the eighth inning.

Doug Mientkiewicz, who doubled and scored on Corey Koskie’s home run in the fifth, hit another double in the eighth. Third base coach Al Newman sent baserunner Cristian Guzman, who was trying to score from first base, but he was thrown out at the plate.

Pitcher Albie Lopez started jawing with Newman and Mientkiewicz, and the benches cleared. There was some shoving, but no punches, and there were no ejections.

“I guess he thought we were trying to run up the score,” Manager Ron Gardenhire said of Lopez. “No matter what he thought, I’m not going to let anybody scream at my coaches.”

Lopez didn’t specify why he was angry.

“It was a lot of things,” he said. “I can’t pinpoint it right now.”

Mientkiewicz, a Gold Glove first baseman, made his first career start in right field and was three for five with two doubles, a run and a run batted in.

Twin designated hitter Matthew LeCroy left because of a broken nose suffered when he was hit in the face by a fastball from Runelvys Hernandez leading off the fourth inning.

Chicago 5, Baltimore 1 -- Frank Thomas homered and had two RBIs, and Sandy Alomar Jr. drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning at Chicago.

Boston 7, Texas 1 -- Nomar Garciaparra hit a two-run homer at Boston to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.

Toronto 7, Tampa Bay 6 -- Cory Lidle won his fifth consecutive decision and the Blue Jays held on for the win at Toronto.

A crowd of 29,013 turned out at SkyDome after the Blue Jays offered $2 tickets to show Toronto remains vibrant despite an outbreak of SARS.

Cleveland 7, Seattle 2 -- Rookie Jason Davis pitched seven strong innings and the Indians roughed up Freddy Garcia at Cleveland.