World Champs Pick Up Where They Left Off In ‘96
The New York Yankees, using some leftover magic from their 1996 World Series run, became the first team in postseason history to hit three consecutive home runs, rallying to beat the Cleveland Indians 8-6 Tuesday night in the opener of their American League playoff series.
Trailing Orel Hershiser 5-0 after the first inning and down 6-3 entering the sixth, New York got a game-tying, two-run shot by Tim Raines and solos by Derek Jeter and Paul O’Neill to stun the Indians and give a record crowd of 57,398 a charge like it hadn’t felt since last October.
“We felt if we could hold them there, we’d have a chance,” Raines said. “Thank goodness we were able to get back in it. We always think we have a chance to come back.”
After an off-day today, the best-of-5 series resumes Thursday night with the Indians starting 21-year-old rookie Jaret Wright against Andy Pettitte.
Sandy Alomar hit a three-run homer in Cleveland’s five-run first inning off David Cone, who lasted only 3 innings and must have New York manager Joe Torre thinking about what he’ll do for Game 4 - if there is one.
Torre, though, said he would stick with his rotation.
New York fell behind by five runs to Hershiser, baseball’s pre-eminent postseason pitcher with an 8-1 mark in 13 starts.
Raines’ sacrifice fly pulled New York within 6-3 in the fifth, and Hershiser was replaced after giving up a single. Alvin Morman came on and walked O’Neill to load the bases before giving way to Eric Plunk, who retired the next two batters.
With two outs in the sixth, Rey Sanchez hit an RBI single and Raines followed with his homer off the upper deck in right to tie it at 6. Jeter and O’Neill followed with home runs.
Cleveland loaded the bases in the seventh, but Matt Williams’ fly ball off Jeff Nelson was caught by O’Neill against the right-field wall.
xxxx Cleveland New York ab r h bi ab r h bi Roberts 2b 3 1 2 1 Raines dh 4 1 1 3 Vizquel ss 3 0 1 0 Jeter ss 5 1 2 1 Rmirez rf 5 1 2 1 O’Neill rf 3 1 1 1 Thome 1b 5 0 2 0 BeWms cf 2 1 0 0 Justice dh 4 1 1 0 TMrtnz 1b 4 1 2 1 MaWm 3b 4 1 0 0 Curtis lf 2 0 1 0 SAlmr c 4 1 2 3 Boggs 3b 4 1 1 1 Giles lf 4 0 0 0 Hayes 3b 0 0 0 0 Grssom cf 4 1 1 0 Girardi c 4 1 1 0 Snchez 2b 3 1 2 1 Totals 36 6 11 5 Totals 31 8 11 8 Cleveland 500 100 000 6 New York 010 115 00x 8 DPCleveland 3, New York 1. LOBCleveland 9, New York 6. 2BJustice (1), Sanchez (1). 3BGrissom (1). HRSAlomar (1), Raines (1), Jeter (1), O’Neill (1), TMartinez (1). SBRoberts 2 (2). SVizquel. SFRaines. Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO Hershiser 4-1/3 6 3 3 2 1 Morman 0 0 0 0 1 0 Plunk L,0-1 1-1/3 4 4 4 0 1 Assenmacher 2/3 1 1 1 1 0 MJackson 1-1/3 0 0 0 1 1 New York IP H R ER BB SO Cone 3-1/3 7 6 6 2 2 Mndza W,1-0 3-1/3 1 0 0 0 2 Stanton 0 1 0 0 1 0 Nelson 1 1 0 0 1 0 MRivera S,1 1-1/3 1 0 0 0 1 Morman pitched to 1 batter in the 5th, Stanton pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. HBP-by Assenmacher (BeWilliams), by Cone (MaWilliams). WP-Cone. T-3:28. A-57,398 (57,545).