51s lose game marred by fight

Steve Addy

Friday, May 25, 2001 | 9:53 a.m.

Maybe the 51s have stumbled on to a marketing niche -- $1 beers and bench-clearing brawls.

It wasn't a winning combination Thursday night at Cashman Field, but it provided an exciting conclusion to a home stand in which the 51s won six straight, then lost two.

A 9-5 loss to the Tucson Sidewinders degenerated into an eighth-inning brawl that sent three players and Las Vegas pitching coach Dean Treanor to early showers. Disciplinary action by the Pacific Coast League is certain for 51s first baseman John Cotton and possibly Treanor.

The tussle occurred when Sidewinders reliever Jonathan Johnson hit Cotton in the leg with a pitch, but the hostilities began in the late innings of Wednesday's game, when two Tucson hitters were plunked by 51s relievers in a 9-4 Las Vegas loss.

Before an announced crowd of 5,139 on $1 Beer Night, pregame rumors of retribution by the Sidewinders proved accurate. They led 9-0 and Johnson was showing terrific control, retiring 12 of 13 batters, when he suddenly nailed Cotton with a fastball.

"Two outs and Cotton walks to the plate and takes one 90 mph off his thigh. That's not curious to me," said 51s manager Rick Sofield, acknowledging Tucson's obvious retaliation.

Cotton charged the mound, hurled his batting helmet at Johnson and the race was on, as the dugouts and bullpens emptied. Cotton grappled with Tucson catcher Chad Moeller, then after things cooled off, Tucson outfielder Rob Ryan and Treanor tried to get after each other.

It took 15 minutes to restore order and restart the game after the ejections of Cotton, Johnson, Ryan and Treanor, and there were no further incidents. The teams don't meet again until July 28-31 at Tucson.

In the meantime, league discipline will probably leave both clubs shorthanded. Penalties are likely once the umpires' report is filed with the PCL office.

But Sofield and club president Don Logan both feel Treanor shouldn't draw a suspension because he acted mostly as a peacemaker.

"I was in the middle of it, and I never saw Treanor make any physical contact," Sofield said. "In any playground fight, there's a lot of verbal rhetoric."

Logan said, "Dean's too smart and been coaching too long to get involved in that, unless he got side-swiped by someone."

Though the 51s didn't do much right, Sofield refused to let the game blight a home stand that lifted Las Vegas to 21-26. In fact, he feels the fight and the 51s' good week will serve them well on a seven-game trip to Sacramento and Fresno that starts tonight.

"When you're standing next to each other in the same uniform and you're in a confrontation with someone in a different uniform, it has to bring your team closer together," Sofield said.

"Anytime you win six out of eight on a home stand, we'll put that in our back pocket and keep on truckin'."

Tucson starter Armando Reynoso, on a rehab assignment from the Diamondbacks, limited the 51s to three hits in 3 2/3 innings, then Johnson stymied them until his ejection.

After fanning Alex Cintron and Junior Spivey, he struck out pitcher Jonathan Johnson, but catcher Geronimo Gil couldn't hold the third strike and Johnson was safe at first. Then Kiefer struck out Jason Conti to end the inning.

Kiefer was activated Thursday and outfielder Chris Prieto (rib strain) was put on the disabled list.