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■ BASKETBALL

Spiking leads to brawl

A spiking incident to the chest of Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura of Japan touched off a benches-clearing brawl in St. Petersburg, Florida, between the Rays and New York Yankees on Wednesday. In a pre-season exhibition ahead of Major League Baseball's season openers later this month, emotions that were already strained by incidents when the teams met on Saturday boiled over into a melee. Three players and two coaches were ejected in the first two innings, with the most stunning incident coming in the top of the second inning. Heath Phillips, the Yankees' starter in place of Andy Pettitte after the star complained of a sore left forearm muscle, was ejected in the first inning for throwing a fastball high and inside to Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria.



■ OLYMPICS

Cuban players go missing

Five Cuban players went missing in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday after the Cuba Under-23 team played against the US in an Olympic qualifier, a team official said on Wednesday. The missing men had not yet reported to authorities. Zachary Mann, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said it's unlikely the agency will learn the men's whereabouts until they come forward. Under the US' "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans who reach US soil are allowed to remain in the country and apply for US residency after one year. A spokesman for CONCACAF, organizing the qualifying tournament, declined comment, saying only that the situation is under review. The five men, including a goalkeeper and captain who helped Cuba draw the US 1-1, are expected to be in Miami by this weekend, said Marcos Ommati, a spokesman with professional soccer team Miami FC.
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