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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Two Mighty Swings Pull Cleveland Even Indians Jump On Benes Early, Rip Mariners 7-0 In Game 4 And Assure Return To Seattle

Associated Press

The sight of Albert Belle on crutches did more for the Cleveland Indians than anything else they had tried.

With their best hitter nursing a strained right ankle, the Indians got home runs from Eddie Murray and Jim Thome and superb pitching from Ken Hill to beat Seattle 7-0 Saturday night, evening the best-of-seven A.L. playoffs at two games apiece.

The Indians did it with a makeshift lineup that was also missing catcher Sandy Alomar, out with a stiff neck. And even their fuzzy purple mascot, Slider, became a casualty, falling off the 8-foot fence in right field and limping along the warning track to the bullpen while Carlos Baerga’s fifth-inning single was in play in left.

Hill, making his first start and second career appearance in the postseason, took advantage of a big early lead and pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits.

Belle arrived at the ballpark on crutches and was left out of the lineup for only the second time all year. He twisted the ankle Friday night trying to dance away from a pitch by Norm Charlton that hit him on the foot.

X-rays were negative, and Belle was listed day to day.

The Indians made sure he wasn’t missed, jumping on Seattle starter Andy Benes for six runs before the game was three innings old. Murray’s two-run home run capped a three-run first inning, Kenny Lofton hit a sacrifice fly in the second, and Thome hit a two-run shot with one out in the third.

One hitter later, Benes was gone, having yielded six runs and six hits in 2-1/3 innings.

The victory rejuvenated an Indians team that had been deflated one night earlier when Seattle’s Jay Buhner hit a game-winning, three-run homer in the 11th inning. Even so, the series is guaranteed of returning to the Kingdome, where the Mariners are 4-1 in the playoffs - and their ace, Randy Johnson, will get one more start.

The Mariners’ only good news of the night came when Washington state lawmakers approved financing to build them a $320 million ballpark.

Belle’s absence forced manager Mike Hargrove to move Murray up from the fifth spot to cleanup, while Thome moved up from sixth to fifth.

The moves paid dividends immediately. Lofton led off the first with a single, stole second and continued to third when catcher Dan Wilson’s throw bounced into center field. Omar Vizquel walked, and Baerga’s groundout produced a run.

Four pitches later, Murray drove a 435-foot shot into the seats in center, his seventh career homer in the postseason.

Tony Pena, subbing for Alomar, started the second with a single, then scampered all the way to third because he was running on the pitch as Wayne Kirby grounded out to third. Lofton’s sacrifice fly scored Pena.

Baerga led off the third with a single, one out before Thome’s two-run homer made it 6-0.

The Indians, baseball’s best-hitting team during the regular season, had averaged just three runs a game during the first three games of the series.

They added one in the sixth when Kirby, who was playing left in place of Belle, singled, stole second and scored on Omar Vizquel’s double.

Hill, runner-up to Greg Maddux in N.L. Cy Young Award voting a year ago, gave the Indians the kind of performance they’d hoped for when they acquired him from St. Louis in July. He struck out six, walked three, and got out of his worst jam - second and third, nobody out in the fourth - by striking out Mike Blowers and Luis Sojo and inducing Wilson to ground out.

One inning earlier, Hill retired A.L. batting champion Edgar Martinez on a grounder, stranding runners at second and third.

Notes: Martinez, the A.L. batting champion at .356 this season, ended his 0-for-11 skid with an infield single in the second inning. His longest hitless streak during the regular season was 0 for 8… Orel Hershiser, the Indians’ starter for today’s Game 5, will be working on three days’ rest for the first time since July 9, 1993. That time, he pitched a complete-game nine-hitter for Los Angeles, beating the New York Mets 6-2… . Neither team took batting practice or fielding practice before the game, because afternoon rain kept the tarp on the field until 90 minutes before gametime.

Bosio ready

By his own admission, Chris Bosio hasn’t had a great season.

The Seattle Mariners’ veteran right-hander has been inconsistent. He’s struggled in big games. He hasn’t won in more than a month.

All of Bosio’s troubles can disappear today if he can turn things around at Jacobs Field.

Bosio will face off against one of the greatest postgame pitchers in Hershiser. He must face the best hitting lineup in baseball.

“I think right now, this is the biggest start of my career,” said the 32-year-old Bosio, a veteran of nine major-league seasons. “This is an opportunity that you only dream about. I’ve played a long time to get this opportunity.”

Bosio enters the game with five consecutive no-decisions, two in the Division Series against the New York Yankees. In his last outing, last Saturday against New York in the Kingdome, he couldn’t get out of the third inning. The Mariners trailed 5-0 at the time of Bosio’s departure but rallied for an 11-8 victory.