California Rallies As Boston Bobbles
The visiting California Angels capitalized on two eighth-inning errors to beat the Boston Red Sox 10-8 Thursday in a game marked by a bench-clearing brawl.
Trailing 8-7, California scored twice in the eighth when the first six batters reached base.
The brawl erupted in the seventh after Stan Belinda’s first pitch to Tony Phillips was a called strike. Phillips and Boston catcher Mike Macfarlane argued and began grappling with each other as the benches and bullpens emptied. Order was restored and both players were ejected.
In the eighth, singles by Chili Davis and J.T. Snow put runners at first and third with no outs. Shortstop John Valentin then booted Carlos Martinez’s grounder as Davis scored, and Rex Hudler’s bunt single loaded the bases.
After Spike Owen grounded into a forceout at the plate, Gary DiSarcina hit a hard grounder to Tim Naehring near third base. Instead of stepping on the base for a sure out, Naehring threw low to second, leading to the tiebreaking run.
Indians 8, Brewers 7
Milwaukee
Cleveland won for the 11th time in its final at-bat, rallying for four runs in the ninth to beat Milwaukee for its sixth straight victory.
A’s 8, Yankees 3
New York
Ruben Sierra hit two solo homers and Geronimo Berroa added a two-run shot as Oakland defeated New York.
Rangers 10, Royals 9 (10)
Arlington, Texas
Rusty Greer hit a leadoff homer in the 10th and Texas overcame a late 8-1 deficit to defeat Kansas City.
Twins 9, Tigers 2
Minneapolis
Scott Leius, Pedro Munoz and Rich Becker homered to back Kevin Tapani (4-4) as Minnesota beat Detroit to end a three-game skid.
Clearing the bases
Minnesota signed its final arbitration-eligible player, agreeing to a one-year, $2,987,500 deal with second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, a two-time All Star… . Boston activated Lee Tinsley, who is hitting .338, from the disabled list… . New York first baseman Don Mattingly, who has won nine Gold Gloves, committed two errors in an inning for the first time in his career.