Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Justin Morneau and Michael Saunders each had four hits and three RBI as Canada defeated Mexico, 10-3, in the World Baseball Classic.

However, the real story of this contest happened in the top of the ninth inning, when Mexico pitcher Arnold Leon hit Canada's Rene Tosoni to start a brawl between the two teams.

Before the incident, Leon threw a pitch behind Tosoni and the umpires warned both teams. Tosoni was hit by the next pitch, and both benches immediately cleared. As the two teams brawled, fights in the stands ensued as well.

As a result, Leon, Eduardo Arredondo, Oliver Perez and Alfredo Aceves were tossed for Mexico, while Tosoni along with fellow Canadian players Pete Orr and Jay Johnson were also ejected.

Just before the incident, Chris Robinson bunted for a hit. That's when apparently third baseman Cruz, who fielded the bunt, told Leon to hit a batter.

"In the heat of the game everybody needs to understand that when you're playing professional baseball, situations like this arise," Renteria said. "And some of these things we do not consider them correct or normal. We are losing, he's (Leon) pitching, and that's how the inning starts. And his mind, according to what he's used to, he's like -- he thought, well -- his mind went somewhere else."

Because a WBC tiebreaker depends mostly on runs, Canada was apparently trying to widen its lead.

"In this tournament it's-- you play baseball like it's 0-0. That's the unfortunate thing," Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt said. "What happened tonight is because of the rulings that they have. Regular baseball, during the season, you would never see that happening. But because of the run differential that they have, you play it like an 0-0 game the whole time."

After the brawl occurred, Canada pitching coach Denis Boucher was hit in the face with a water bottle from the stands, prompting shortstop Cale Iorg to throw the bottle back into the stands.

Taylor Green went 3-for-5 and scored three times for Canada, who recorded 15 hits in the game. Starting pitcher Chris Leroux (1-0) allowed one unearned run on two hits over three innings.

Canada will face Team USA in its next Pool D game.

Eduardo Arredondo, Edgar Gonzalez and Gil Velazquez scored runs for Mexico, which went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Mexico's starting pitcher Marco Estrada (0-1) was battered, giving up four runs off seven hits over three innings.

03/09 23:00:19 ET