Sticky situation
Donnelly ejected for substance in glove; Nats win
Posted: Wednesday June 15, 2005 1:25AM; Updated: Wednesday June 15, 2005 1:44AM

Umpires inspect Brenan Donnelly's glove shortly before ejecting him from the game.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Jose Guillen hit a two-run homer after Los Angeles reliever Brendan Donnelly was ejected for having a foreign substance in his glove, and the Washington Nationals beat the Angels 6-3 Tuesday night.

Guillen, the former Angels' outfielder, tied it at 3 in the eighth with a two-run homer off Scot Shields, then Junior Spivey's RBI single and Brian Schneider's sacrifice fly gave Washington a two-run lead.

The Nationals added an unearned run, their third of the game, in the ninth inning.

The game was delayed some 10 minutes in the seventh inning when Donnelly's glove was examined by all four umpires and he was tossed.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia then confronted Nationals manager Frank Robinson, who had asked the umpires to examine Donnelly's glove. Both benches emptied and, although there apparently were no punches thrown, several players were pushing and shoving each other.

Washington players had to restrain teammate Guillen, who was suspended by the Angels late last season for throwing a temper tantrum. The Angels traded him in November.

When the Nationals took the field for the bottom of the seventh, Scioscia asked the umpires to check pitcher Gary Majewski's glove, which they did -- and made him fix the loose laces on the glove.

Shields replaced Donnelly, who came in to relieve starter Ervin Santana. Shields retired both batters he faced in the seventh, but then hit Ryan Church to open the eighth.

Guillen followed with his shot over the left-field fence, his 11th homer. One out later, shortstop Orlando Cabrera booted Vinny Castilla's grounder, leading to two unearned runs.

Majewski (2-0) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings to earn the win. Shields (5-4) gave up four runs -- two unearned -- on three hits in 1 2/3 innings. Chad Cordero pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 22 chances.

Santana, a rookie right-hander making his third major league start, allowed one run and four hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out seven, walked four and left with a 3-1 lead.

Washington starter Livan Hernandez, denied the chance for his ninth consecutive victory, gave up three runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out four.

Los Angeles went up 3-1 in the sixth and chased Hernandez on an RBI single by Darin Erstad and Vladimir Guerrero's RBI double, which hit the center-field wall an inch or so from the top.

Nick Johnson's broken-bat, RBI single to right field had tied it at 1 with two outs in the sixth.

Bengie Molina broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single off Hernandez in the fifth inning.

Notes: Erstad singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and tie a career high. ... When the Nationals scored off Santana in the sixth inning, it ended his string of 14 consecutive scoreless innings, tied for the club high this season with Bartolo Colon.