Baseball: Pitcher's hit 'accidental'

RALEIGH - Kansas City pitcher Runelvys Hernandez has denied intentionally hitting a Detroit batter on the head, sparking a melee which led to the ejection of six players and Royals manager Buddy Bell.

"I didn't try to hit anybody," Hernandez said after he struck Tigers' short-stop Carlos Guillen with a pitch in the sixth innings of Kansas City's 5-0 win in Detroit on Monday.

Guillen thought otherwise during the game and screamed at Hernandez. The two players charged at each other and both benches cleared. Hernandez, who had hit two other players during the game, was ejected by the umpires.

Order appeared to have been restored when Guillen reached first base, but as Hernandez left the field, he said something to Guillen.

"That's what started the whole thing again," umpire Dana DeMuth said.

An argument developed and Guillen was ejected with team-mates Kyle Farnsworth and Jeremy Bonderman, and Kansas City's Emil Brown and Alberto Castillo, and Bell.

- REUTERS