Machado fuels bench-clearing scrum

Baltimore's Manny Machado claimed there was no ill-intent Sunday after being at the center of another heated dugout-clearing confrontation with the Oakland Athletics.

This time, Oakland left-hander Fernando Abad threw inside to Machado in the eighth inning of Baltimore's 11-1 loss to the A's. The bat flew out of Machado's hands and went down the third-base line. Both players exchanged words before benches and bullpens emptied. Machado and Abad were ejected. Crew Chief Larry Vanover said Machado was ejected for throwing the bat and Abad was tossed for throwing at him a second time.

"The bat slipped out of my hands,'' Machado said. "Trying to make contact and the umpire thought it was intentional and he tossed me at that point. The umpire thought it was intentional, so I guess at that point you've got to toss the pitcher and the hitter at the same time.''

On Friday, Machado didn't like the force of the tag by Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson and the two had to be separated.

John Jaso had four RBIs for the A's, who took two out of three in the series and improved to a major league-best 22-12 on the road. Jaso thought Machado was out of line with his reaction.

"It got pretty intense there for a while,'' Jaso said. "There is a certain respect you have to have for this game.

"When I feel somebody doesn't see that and doesn't respect the game as such, it doesn't sit well with me,'' he added. "I think guys like that need to be taught a lesson because there's millions of other people that would love to have the spot that he has.''

The Associated Press contributed to this story.