Rangers' Francisco arrested for hitting fans with thrown chair

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers disagreed over who's to blame for an altercation in the stands that led to the arrest of Rangers reliever Frank Francisco after he threw a chair that hit a woman and broke her nose.

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Dave Rinetti, A's vice president of stadium operations, said Tuesday a review of the ninth-inning fracas the night before -- which took place in the lower-box seats between the Texas dugout and bullpen -- showed the fans' behavior wasn't over the line according to baseball's rules of conduct that are posted at every ballpark entrance.

"The incident became ugly when players approached the seating area," Rinetti said before the teams played the second game of the four-game series.

He noted the fans didn't yell racial slurs or swear at the Texas players.

Yet Rangers manager Buck Showalter was quick to point to previous problems the Rangers have had in the Oakland Coliseum. He claimed the Rangers had asked for more security in the area, but Rinetti said neither he nor his security staff had been approached with such a request.

Rangers players try to get into the stands to go after fans during a fight in Monday night's game. (AP)

Still, the A's beefed up security for Tuesday's game and the remainder of the series -- and probably for the rest of the season. Several additional officers from the Oakland Police Department were brought in to assist the Coliseum's regular security staff, which was increased by 10 people in the visiting bullpen and dugout.

Showalter said before the game he was satisfied with the extra security presence and didn't want to rehash the incident. He apologized for the organization.

"I'm not going to get into they said, we said," Showalter said. "We'll learn from last night, everybody concerned."

Francisco spent much of the day at the team's hotel in San Francisco, but arrived at the ballpark nearly 2 hours after the first pitch just in case the Rangers needed his services.

The Rangers said they had a lengthy team meeting before the game, but players were coming in and out of the locker room during that time. The team bus didn't arrive until 4:22 p.m. PT, and their clubhouse was not opened to the media the usual 3½ hours before game time. It finally opened more than an hour late and players didn't have anything to say about what happened.

"If it doesn't pertain to the game, I'm not talking," pitcher Kenny Rogers said. "I think the (security) will be just fine. It's just another ballgame."

Before the game, Texas right-hander Chan Ho Park signed autographs near the area where the altercation took place.