First, their manager Ryne Sandberg and pitching coach David Rosario blew up.

Then, their bats did.

The Peoria Chiefs avoided a four-game sweep by using a seven-run fifth inning to defeat the Fort Wayne Wizards 10-4 on Monday evening in front of 3,572 fans at Memorial Stadium.

But most of the game was played without the Hall of Famer and former Chicago Cub Sandberg, who was ejected in the third inning for arguing with home plate umpire Bronson Martinez.

To the boos and obvious ire of many of the fans who came to see him, Sandberg drew his first ejection as a manager and first “since about halfway” through his playing career, he said.

“There was some frustration over there,” said Sandberg, who played 15 years with the Cubs and 16 in his career. “There were some close pitches. When a pitcher hits the glove, its one thing. But in my opinion, we were just being squeezed out there.”

Sandberg was ejected minutes after Rosario was tossed while in the dugout. Rosario entered the field, argued with Martinez and mockingly wiped off the plate with a towel. Martinez walked toward the first-base line and turned his back to avoid any more confrontation, but Rosario remained in his ear.

Then Sandberg entered the field to talk to his catcher. The first-base umpire, Jon Saphire, stepped in between Rosario and Martinez, and Rosario finally left the field but not before covering home plate with dirt.

Then it was Sandberg's turn to give Martinez an ear full. Martinez made his way back to home plate and briefly chatted with Sandberg before ejecting him; the boos rained from the fans, many of whom lined up for Sandberg's autograph before the game. The entire exchange lasted about four minutes.

“You've got a kid out there trying to pitch and when a young pitcher has to throw 15 or 20 more pitches (more than) he should, it's not good,” Sandberg said. “It was just the question with the strike zone. We didn't feel like he was calling a good game out there.”

Wizards manager Doug Dascenzo said the game was called evenly, but agreed that the strike zone was tight. Catcher Brian Hernandez said Martinez created a consistent strike zone but didn't agree with a few of his calls.

“I thought there were some pitches that could have gone the other way,” he said. “Some pitches were debatable. But I can't say much more about it.”

Peoria (15-13) blew open the game in the fifth inning with seven runs on seven hits and sent 11 batters to the plate to break a 1-1 tie.

“It's tough when you're down that many runs and have got to hit your way back,” Dascenzo said. “We know that the pitching is going to be there; it's been there all year. We're not concerned at all.”

Fort Wayne had a decent offensive outing of its own, pounding out 11 hits and four runs - three of which came on solo home runs from Rayner Contreras, Jesus Lopez and Hernandez.

But it was not enough to make up for starting pitcher Aaron Breit's second worst outing of the season. He allowed six runs on seven hits in just 4 1/3 innings and picked up his fourth loss in the process.

The Wizards (14-13) failed to sweep the four-game series and also extend their win streak to a season-high four games. The last time Fort Wayne won four straight games dates back to a six-game win streak last season from Aug. 14-19.

“It's tough when you play a team four times in a row,” Hernandez said. “We had success with them the first three days and just like we're trying to win every game, they're trying to win every game. They had that big inning, some bit hits for them, and they had some good pitches, too. There's not much you can do about that.”