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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cleveland Finds New Life Tribe Beats Braves 7-6 In Game 3

Mike Digiovanna Los Angeles Times

Several Cleveland Indians say they get a magical feeling in Jacobs Field, where they won 17 games during the regular season in their final at-bat, but 43,584 fans were beginning to wonder Tuesday night whether all that talk was a lot of hocus-pocus.

The Indians blew an early three-run lead against the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the World Series, an eighth-inning error aided a three-run rally in which the Braves scored the tying and go-ahead runs, and manager Mike Hargrove was confounding the Indians faithful with even more questionable decisions.

But the charm finally came back in the bottom of the 11th inning, when Eddie Murray lined an RBI single to center field to lift the Indians to a 7-6 victory over the Braves, ending a 4-hour, 9-minute thriller and chiller that pulled Cleveland to within 2-1 in the Series.

“We’re a lot better offensive team in this park,” said Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar, whose RBI double in the bottom of the eighth tied the game, 6-6. “We love the atmosphere; the fans supported us and stayed all night. We needed a little enthusiasm, and they gave it to us.”

Carlos Baerga started the winning rally with a double to right-center field off reliever Alejandro Pena, and Albert Belle was intentionally walked.

Murray, hitless with three strikeouts in his previous five at-bats, followed with his winning hit, which scored pinch-runner Alvaro Espinoza and gave Indian fans a warm and fuzzy feeling on a night in which the wind-chill factor made it feel like 29 degrees.

Cleveland closer Jose Mesa pitched three scoreless innings to earn the victory, the Indians’ 14th in 15 extra-inning decisions, while Pena, who replaced Mark Wohlers to start the 11th, took the loss.

The Indians broke out of their slump with 12 hits - they had a combined eight hits in Games 1 and 2 - but still were in danger of losing the third game of the series.

Trailing, 5-3, going into the eighth, Marquis Grissom opened the inning with a double to right off Charles Nagy, the Indian starter who had given up bases-empty homers to Fred McGriff in the sixth and Ryan Klesko in the seventh and appeared to be tiring.

But Hargrove, who often boasts that his bullpen is the best in the American League, inexplicably chose to leave Nagy in to pitch to left-handed Luis Polonia, who grounded an RBI single to right to pull Atlanta to within 5-4.

Hargrove finally came to the mound to pull Nagy, amid derisive cheers from the crowd, but all lefthanded set-up man Paul Assenmacher did was set up a Braves rally by walking Chipper Jones after jumping ahead, 0-2, on the count.

McGriff then flied to deep center, Polonia tagging and moving to third and Jones taking second, barely beating Lofton’s throw from the wall. David Justice then grounded to the second-base hole, but the ball bounced off Carlos Baerga’s wrist for an error, as Polonia scored the tying run.

Hargrove summoned right-hander Julian Tavarez to face pinch-hitter Mike Devereaux, who lined an RBI single to left-center to put the Braves ahead, 6-5.

Tavarez hurled his glove into the dugout after the inning and booted a water cooler off the top step, but the rest of the Indians maintained their composure, mounting a tying rally in the bottom of the eighth off Alomar’s RBI double that scored Manny Ramirez.

Indians 7, Braves 6 (11)

Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Grissom cf 6 1 2 0 0 2 .308 Polonia lf 4 1 1 1 1 1 .200 CpJones 3b 3 2 1 0 2 0 .300 McGriff 1b 5 1 3 2 0 1 .333 Justice rf 5 0 0 1 0 0 .222 Klesko dh 3 1 2 1 0 0 .250 Devrx ph-dh 2 0 1 1 0 1 .333 JLopez c 5 0 0 0 0 0 .125 Lemke 2b 5 0 2 0 0 0 .364 Belliard ss 2 0 0 0 0 1 .000 DwSmith ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .500 Mordecai ss 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Totals 42 6 12 6 3 7 Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Lofton cf 3 3 3 0 3 0 .417 Vizquel ss 6 2 2 1 0 1 .214 Baerga 2b 6 0 3 3 0 0 .214 Espinoza pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 —- Belle lf 4 0 1 1 2 0 .200 Murray dh 6 0 1 1 0 3 .167 Thome 3b 4 0 0 0 1 1 .100 MRamirez rf 2 1 0 0 3 0 .222 Sorrento 1b 4 0 1 0 0 3 .167 Kirby pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 HPerry 1b 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 SAlomar c 5 0 1 1 0 1 .125 Totals 41 7 12 7 9 10 Atlanta 100 001 130 00 - 6 12 1 Clevelnd 202 000 110 01 - 7 12 2 No outs when winning run scored. E-Belliard (2), Baerga (1), Sorrento (1). DP-Atlanta 1, Cleveland 2. LOB Atlanta 7, Cleveland 13. 2B-Grissom (1), CpJones (2), Lofton (1), Baerga (1), SAlomar (1). 3B-Vizquel (1). HR-McGriff (2), Klesko (1). SB-Polonia (1), McGriff (1), Lofton (5), MRamirez (1). CS-Grissom (1), Lofton (1). S-Mordecai.

Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Smoltz 2 6 4 4 2 4 56 15.43 Clontz 2 1 0 0 0 1 32 0.00 Mercker 2 1 1 1 2 2 34 4.50 McMichael 1 1 1 1 1 17 6.75 Wohlers 2 1 0 0 3 2 32 0.00 APena L,0-1 0 2 1 1 1 0 10 9.00 Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Nagy 7 8 5 5 1 4 86 6.43 Assenmacher 0 1 1 1 0 10 27.00 Tavarez 1 0 0 0 0 3 0.00 Mesa W,1-0 3 3 0 0 1 3 51 0.00 Nagy pitched to 2 batters in the 8th, APena

pitched to 3 batters in the 11th. T-4:09. A-43,584 (42,865).

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WORLD SERIES Tuesday’s result: Cleveland 7, Atlanta 6 (11 innings); Atlanta leads series 2-1 Today’s game: Atlanta at Cleveland, 5:20 p.m. (ABC)

This sidebar appeared with the story: WORLD SERIES Tuesday’s result: Cleveland 7, Atlanta 6 (11 innings); Atlanta leads series 2-1 Today’s game: Atlanta at Cleveland, 5:20 p.m. (ABC)