Baseball

Roberto Alomar, the Baltimore Orioles' second baseman suspended for five games next season for spitting at an umpire, has apologised in writing to John Hirschbeck, the umpire in question. The Major League umpires had threatened to boycott the remaining play-off games in protest at what they believed was too lenient a punishment but agreed to abide by a court injunction won by the team owners against a strike.

DIVISIONAL PLAY-OFFS: American League (Friday): Cleveland 9 Baltimore 4 (Baltimore lead best-of-five series 2-1); Texas 2 New York Yankees 3 (New York lead series 2-1). (Saturday): Baltimore 4 Cleveland 3 (Baltimore win series 3-1); New York 6 Texas 4 (New York win series 3-1). National League (Saturday): Atlanta 5 Los Angeles 2 (Atlanta wins series 3-0); San Diego 5 St Louis 7 (St Louis wins series 3-0).