Forgotten Pitchers Bail Out The Orioles Kamieniecki, Key Combine To Handcuff Cleveland In 4-2 Victory

Baltimore dug deep into its treasure trove of pitching Monday night. The No. 4 starter and a fallen-from-grace reliever kept the Orioles alive in the American League playoffs.

Little-used Scott Kamieniecki and forgotten-man Jimmy Key took out their frustrations and combined for eight scoreless innings in a 4-2 victory against Cleveland at Jacobs Field. The Indians lead the best-of-7 American League Championship Series 3-2, but all remaining games will be played in Baltimore.

“The way this series has gone, I don’t see how anyone can feel confident about anything,” Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove said.

Said Baltimore manager Davey Johnson: “This club has a lot of strong backbone. We go back to our place, and things can happen.”

Johnson has his top two starters waiting: Mike Mussina and Scott Erickson. Hargrove has an offense that struggles for ways to score beyond Baltimore catcher Lenny Webster missing pitches.

The Indians were 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left runners at second and third against closer Randy Myers in the ninth inning. The Indians are hitting .171 for 41 at-bats with runners in scoring position during this series.

In nine postseason games, Baltimore pitching has held Seattle and Cleveland to 28 runs. Opponents have hit a combined .145 in 62 at-bats with runners in scoring position against the Orioles in that span.

“It’s ability and heart,” Baltimore pitching coach Ray Miller said. “You have to step up now. That’s why they call it the playoffs.”

Kamieniecki, the No. 4 starter in the regular season, had pitched only three innings since Sept. 25. He showed no signs of rust and held Cleveland scoreless for five innings before leaving the game because of stiffness in his right elbow.

The Orioles dusted off Key and rushed him in to replace Kamieniecki. Key, a 16-game winner in the regular season, was in the bullpen for two reasons. He pitched poorly in two postseason starts, and Johnson needed relief help after going to his bullpen nine times for a total of eight innings the previous two games.

“Going to the bullpen was a bitter pill to swallow,” Key said. “It felt very weird coming in like that, but I had to make the most of it.”

This was Key’s first relief appearance since he got the win for Toronto in the final game of the 1992 World Series. He looked nothing like the Jimmy Key who allowed 13 hits and four runs in eight innings in two postseason starts. He had exceptional command of his changeup and retired nine of the 10 batters faced.

“That wasn’t the guy who’s been struggling for his last 15 starts,” Key said. “I’ve been struggling for a while, and that’s been disappointing to me. Just being able to contribute was important.”

Kamieniecki held the Indians hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position. The first was his most important inning. Kamieniecki worked out of trouble and received an emotional boost.

Cleveland failed to score in the first despite a leadoff double by Bip Roberts. The inning turned for Kamieniecki when No. 3 hitter Manny Ramirez screamed obscenities at him after being hit in the left elbow by a pitch.

“He really ticked me off,” Kamieniecki said. “I don’t know what his problem was. I’m not throwing at him there.”

Ramirez’s teammates suffered for his insults. An admittedly aroused Kamieniecki finished the inning by preventing Jim Thome and David Justice from hitting the ball out of the infield. Kamieniecki also retired Thome with two runners in scoring position to end the third.

Notes

Only eight teams in postseason history have come back from 3-1 deficits to win a series. It’s been done five times in the World Series and three times in the LCS. … Cleveland left fielder Brian Giles was struck on the forehead by a fly ball during batting practice but played. … The five games have been decided by a combined eight runs. … With Kamieniecki working at a deliberate pace, it took 22 minutes to play the first inning. … Cleveland had three double plays to set an ALCS record with nine in the series.

Orioles 4, Indians 2 Baltimore AB R H BI BB SO Avg. ByAnderson cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .350 RAlomar 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0 .176 Berroa rf 4 0 1 2 0 0 .250 Hammonds rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Baines dh 3 0 1 0 0 0 .357 c-EDavis ph-dh 1 1 1 1 0 0 .167 RPalmeiro 1b 4 1 1 0 0 0 .318 CRipken 3b 4 0 2 1 0 1 .300 Surhoff lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250 Hoiles c 3 1 1 0 1 2 .222 Bordick ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .067 Totals 33 4 10 4 2 5 Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Roberts 2b-lf 5 0 2 0 0 2 .150 Vizquel ss 5 0 1 0 0 2 .050 Ramirez rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .353 Thome 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .100 b-Seitzer ph-1b 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Justice dh 3 1 1 0 1 1 .333 MaWilliams 3b 3 1 1 1 1 1 .263 SAlomar c 4 0 0 0 0 0 .150 Giles lf 2 0 1 0 0 0 .231 a-TFrnndz ph-2b 2 0 1 1 0 0 .333 Grissom cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .316 Totals 35 2 8 2 2 8 Baltimore 002 000 002 4 Cleveland 000 000 002 2 a-popped out for Giles in the 7th. b-struck out for Thome in the 8th. c-homered for Baines in the 9th. E-MaWilliams (2). LOB-Baltimore 5, Cleveland 9. 2B-RPalmeiro (2), Roberts (1), MaWilliams (1), Giles (3), TFernandez (1). HR-EDavis (1) off Assenmacher. RBIs-Berroa 2 (3), EDavis (1), CRipken (3), MaWilliams (2), TFernandez (1). SB-Grissom (3). S-Bordick. GIDP-Berroa, RPalmeiro, Bordick.

Runners left in scoring position-Baltimore 1 (RAlomar); Cleveland 7 (Vizquel 2, Thome 2, Justice, Grissom 2).

Runners moved up-Ramirez.

DP-Cleveland 3 (Vizquel, Roberts and Thome), (Vizquel and Thome), (Vizquel, TFernandez and Seitzer).

Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Kamieniecki W,1-0 5 4 0 0 1 4 82 0.00 Key 3 0 0 0 1 3 46 2.57 RaMyers 1 4 2 2 0 1 31 8.10

Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Ogea L,0-2 8 6 2 2 2 4 95 3.21 Assenmacher 0 4 2 2 0 0 11 10.80 MJackson 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 0.00 Assenmacher pitched to 4 batters in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-MJackson 2-0.

HBP-by Kamieniecki (Ramirez).

T-3:08. A-45,068 (43,863).