Canada and Mexico brawl in World Baseball Classic

Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

PHOENIX -- The peaceful World Baseball Classic turned nasty Saturday when a full-scale brawl broke out, with seven players ejected and fans throwing at least two bottles from the stands at the games.

"You can't hurt us Canadians,'' said Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt, after the first brawl in WBC history.

The game, won 10-3 by Canada, sets up a showdown Sunday against Team USA with the right to advance to the second round along with Team Italy.

Yet the game will be remembered for the ninth-inning brawl that had both managers urging WBC officials to change the tiebreaking format to eliminate run differential, encouraging teams to score as many runs as possible, despite the situation.

via @metskevin11

"There's got to be another method other than running up the score on the opposing team,'' Whitt said. "No one likes that. That's not the way baseball's supposed to be played.''

Mexico, already frustrated with a 9-3 deficit in the ninth inning, initiated the brawl when Mexico pitcher Arnold Leon twice threw inside at Rene Tosoni, drawing a warning from home-plate umpire Brian Gorman. Leon then hit Tosoni in the left shoulder with the next pitch.

via cjzero

Leon was livid that catcher Chris Robinson led off the ninth with a bunt single, infuriating the entire team, which thought Canada was running up the score.

"It's not professional,'' Mexico reliever Oliver Perez said. "I think everybody gets mad.''

Said Mexico manager Rick Renteria: "In a normal professional setting, a 9-3 bunt in that particular situation would be kind of out of the ordinary. But based on the rules that have been established in this tournament, the run differential and things of that nature, those things may occur.

"In the heat of the game everybody needs to understand that when you're playing professional baseball situations like this arise. And some of these things we do not consider them normal or correct.

"In (Leon's) mind, according to what he's used to, he's like, well, his mind went somewhere else.''

TV cameras clearly caught Mexico third baseman Luis Cruz of the Los Angeles Dodgers gesturing to Leon to purposely hit Tosoni. Cruz wasn't available, but Canadian first-base coach Larry Walker confirmed the gesture.

"Their third baseman was telling (Leon) to hit him right in the ribs,'' Walker told reporters in the hallway. "I couldn't believe he didn't get tossed."

There were fights throughout the infield. Mexico outfielder Eduardo Arredondo was the most aggressive in the brawl. Mexico and Boston Red Sox reliever Alfredo Aceves also was in one major skirmish after another, including with Walker.

"I had a hold of him,'' Walker told reporters in the hallway after the game, "and I thought I saw Satan in his eye.''

Walker said that he also grabbed Mexico first baseman Adrian Gonzalez of the Dodgers and told him: "You're too important to the game to get hurt in this."

It turned ugly from the stands, too, when someone threw a water bottle that hit pitching coach Denis Boucher. Canadian shortstop Cale Iorg fired the bottle back into the stands.

Minutes later, someone threw a baseball at Walker, causing another stop in play. Whitt went to home-plate umpire Brian Gorman and told him that he would pull his team off the field if another incident occurred. Gorman went to Team Mexico and said the game was in danger of being forfeited.

The public address announcer informed the pro-Mexico crowd that any further disruption would cause a forfeit. The game continued without incident, but now Whitt is waiting for possible suspensions. It all could have been avoided, Whitt said, with a change in the tiebreaking procedures.

"Because of the run differential that they have, you play it like an 0-0 game the whole time,'' Whitt said.

The Canadians, who lost 14-4 to Italy in their first game of the pool but were given a respite when the USA lost to Mexico on Friday night, think the brawl could bring their team even closer. If they beat USA on Sunday, they will advance to Miami, keeping the USA home.

"Whoever says that guys are just here as an extra spring training game or just here to say they represented their country and then go home, '' Canadian first baseman Justin Morneau said, "didn't see how intense that game was. And what it means to everybody that as involved in it.

"We'll start over again (Sunday against the USA), and hopefully it's a good, clean game. But you never know what's going to happen.''

If Canada needs to fight again, yes, they're ready.

"We do what we have to do to win a ballgame,'' Whitt said. "We protect ourselves. We protect the players. We protect our coaches. And whatever it takes, we'll do.

"It is a tight-knit group that we have in that locker room. And a lot of people don't realize that, but we play the game with pride and passion. And we'll do whatever it takes to win.

"And we'll fight for each other.''

They certainly proved that for all of the WBC to witness Saturday.