Twins Benefit From Blown Call

Frank Robinson and the Montreal Expos had a legitimate complaint over a crucial blown call.

Luis Rivas hit a disputed home run in the 11th inning, sending the Minnesota Twins to a 5-4 win over the Expos on Wednesday night at Montreal.

Rivas’ drive over the wall in the left-field corner was called fair by third base umpire Brian O’Nora. Television replays clearly showed the ball sailed to the left of the net that serves as a foul pole at Olympic Stadium and should have been ruled foul.

“The replay just confirmed what you saw, that’s all,” said Robinson, the Expos’ manager, who was ejected after a lengthy argument. “In plain language, [O’Nora] said he saw it and he saw the ball hit the foul pole. He saw it shaking.”

Left fielder Brad Wilkerson immediately jumped up and down when he saw O’Nora signal a fair ball. Wilkerson ran in to join third baseman Tony Batista and Robinson, who came out of the dugout to argue.

O’Nora was joined by umpires Phil Cuzzi, Mike Fichter and Brian Knight, who conferred but let the decision stand.

Robinson repeatedly berated the entire crew, continuing after he returned to the dugout, before he was ejected by crew chief Fichter, the first base umpire.

Robinson came back out of the dugout to renew his dispute with Fichter. The manager made a series of choking gestures before he was ejected, bowing toward O’Nora to the applause of the crowd of 3,763.

“What can you do about it?” Robinson said. “Four guys out there all saying that they saw it the same way -- you’ve got to be kidding me! Didn’t any of them see it the right way? That’s the key. I don’t care how they saw it, all four may have seen it one way, but it wasn’t right.”

Expo fans gave a mock cheer after every foul ball the rest of the innings.

The umpires were not available for comment.

Cincinnati 7, Texas 4 -- A capacity crowd hoping for home run history saw Ken Griffey Jr. settle for a single, then reveled in another comeback victory at Cincinnati.

Ryan Freel had a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning, and Barry Larkin followed with a two-run single as the Ranger bullpen suffered a second consecutive meltdown.

San Francisco 10, Toronto 2 -- Pedro Feliz and A.J. Pierzynski hit two-run homers, and Kirk Rueter pitched seven strong innings at San Francisco.

Rueter (3-6) didn’t give up an earned run and also drove in a run with a fifth-inning single, his fourth hit of the year and second run batted in. Rueter had lost his last two starts, but got off to a strong start in his 14th outing of the season, retiring the first six Blue Jays batters. He gave up six hits, struck out three and walked two.

Barry Bonds was two for three with an intentional walk, a groundout, a double in the third and a sixth-inning single. It was his major league-leading 91st walk -- 49th intentional. He was replaced by Dustan Mohr in left field in the seventh.

New York Yankees 9, Arizona 4 -- Bernie Williams, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter homered at Phoenix and the Yankees won for the 18th time in 21 games.

Williams hit his first leadoff home run in nine years, and Rodriguez reached base safely for the 52nd consecutive game -- 15 more than his previous career best.

Jeter was two for four, is five for eight in the series and is hitting .463 in his last 11 games.

Tampa Bay 9, San Diego 6 -- The Devil Rays set a franchise record with their seventh win in a row, led by leadoff batter Carl Crawford, who was four for five with three runs and two RBIs at San Diego. Since bottoming out at 10-28 on May 19, the Devil Rays have gone 18-6. During that stretch, they’ve had 12 come-from-behind wins, including this one.

Colorado 7, Boston 6 -- Vinny Castilla drove in three runs, Jason Jennings worked out of two bases-loaded jams for his fourth win in five starts and the Rockies held on to win at Denver.

Kansas City 10, Atlanta 4 -- Angel Berroa hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning at Atlanta, and the Royals had their most hits in almost three years. Joe Randa was four for five, and Berroa had three hits for the Royals, who had 20 hits for the first time since Aug. 5, 2001, at Minnesota.

St. Louis 6, Oakland 2 -- Jason Marquis pitched seven sharp innings and hit a two-run double at St. Louis.

Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders homered for the Cardinals, who have won 12 of 15 to move a season-best 11 games above .500.

Cleveland 9, New York Mets 1 -- C.C. Sabathia gave up one run and six hits in eight innings at New York.

Rick White pitched the ninth to complete the six-hitter.

Milwaukee 4, Seattle 1 -- Doug Davis pitched seven solid innings, and pinch-hitter Bill Hall hit a two-run homer at Milwaukee.

Detroit at Philadelphia, ppd. -- The game was postponed by rain and will be made up today as part of a doubleheader.