Indians Put Fish In Freezer Williams, Ramirez Homer As Tribe Evens World Series At 2 With 10-3 Victory

Snow. Wind. Record cold.

For the Cleveland Indians, it was simply winning in a winter wonderland.

Flurries fluttered around Jacobs Field all evening, but the only thing that accumulated were runs by the Indians in their 10-3 victory over the Florida Marlins on Wednesday night that evened the World Series at two wins each.

Matt Williams and Manny Ramirez homered and Sandy Alomar had three of Cleveland’s 15 hits and drove in three runs. The victory ensured the Series will return to the Sunshine State this weekend.

“Let it snow, let it snow,” a laughing Alomar sang after the game.

It will surely be warmer at Miami than it was for this brand of winter ball in Cleveland. The 38 degrees at the start made it the coldest since World Series temperatures have been recorded (1975), and snow fell for the first time in the Fall Classic since Game 1 in 1979 at Baltimore.

The weather, though, had little impact on this game, played a night after the Marlins rallied for a 14-11 win. The Indians took a 6-0 lead after three innings and 21-year-old starter Jaret Wright made it stand up.

“That was important to get going early in the game,” said Williams, who went 3 for 3 with two walks. “That goes back to putting pressure on the other team.

“That was huge. That set the tone from the beginning.”

Wright outpitched Tony Saunders in a matchup of rookie starters as the Indians won before a crowd of 44,877 bundled against an 18-degree wind-chill factor.

“We didn’t get off on the right foot,” Marlins manager Jim Leyland said. “We made a little run there. We just couldn’t stop the bleeding.”

Game 5 will be tonight, and the forecast calls for temperatures in the 40s and rain. Orel Hershiser will start for the Indians against rookie Livan Hernandez in a rematch of Game 1.

Williams’ two-run homer in the eighth made sure the Marlins would not come back this night. The All-Star third baseman hit just .125 in the 1989 Series for San Francisco and was 4 for 14 in this Series without an extra base hit.

Alomar, a hero in a Game 2, is 8 for 17 in the Series Despite the Indians setting a franchise postseason record for hits, Marquis Grissom had none. He went 0 for 4 and ended his 15-game hitting streak, two short of the Series record held by Hank Bauer.

Wright, the youngest pitcher to start in the Series since Bret Saberhagen in 1985, improved to 3-0 in the postseason. The cool customer gave up three runs and five hits in six innings and is now 9-0 when pitching after an Indians’ loss - not bad for someone who started the year in Double-A.

“When you score 10 runs, three in the first, it’s a game of momentum,” Wright said.

Brian Anderson finished with three scoreless innings for a save.

Saunders, 23, did not survive the third inning in the sixth meeting of rookie starters in Series history, and first since Philadelphia’s Charles Hudson faced Baltimore’s Mike Boddicker in 1983.

Marlins starters, meanwhile, have a 9.33 ERA in the first four games.

The unusual weather was the focus before the game. The Indians took batting practice in snow showers as the stadium sound system played “Winter Wonderland” and “Jingle Bell Rock” among others.

Indians 10, Marlins 3 Florida AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

DWhite cf 4 0 0 0 0 4 .167

Renteria ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .313

Sheffield rf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .333

Bonilla 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .188

Daulton 1b 3 2 2 0 1 0 .500

Alou lf 3 1 1 2 1 0 .267

Eisenreich dh 2 0 2 1 1 0 .667

a-AArias ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

CJohnson c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .267

Counsell 2b 2 0 0 0 1 0 .231

b-Abbott ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 31 3 6 3 5 7

Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Roberts lf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .313

Giles lf 1 0 1 1 0 0 1.000

Vizquel ss 5 2 2 0 0 0 .235

Ramirez rf 4 2 1 2 1 1 .176

Justice dh 3 2 1 0 2 2 .308

MaWilliams 3b 3 3 3 2 2 0 .412

SAlomar c 5 0 3 3 0 0 .471

Thome 1b 4 0 1 0 1 1 .294

TFernandez 2b 5 1 2 1 0 0 .455

Grissom cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .500

Totals 38 10 15 9 6 7

Florida 000 102 000 - 3

Cleveland 303 001 12x - 10

a-popped out for Eisenreich in the 9th. b-grounded out for Counsell in the 9th. E-Renteria (1), Saunders (1). LOB-Florida 6, Cleveland 10. 2B-Daulton (1), Roberts (4), SAlomar (1). HR-MaWilliams (1) off Powell; Alou (2) off JrWright; Ramirez (2) off Saunders. RBIs-Alou 2 (5), Eisenreich (3), Giles (2), Ramirez 2 (4), MaWilliams 2 (3), SAlomar 3 (6), TFernandez (2). SB-Counsell (1), Vizquel (1). CS- Giles (1). GIDP-Bonilla. Runners left in scoring position-Florida 3 (Sheffield, CJohnson, Counsell); Cleveland 6 (Vizquel 3, Thome 3). Runners moved up-Renteria, Grissom.

DP-Cleveland 2 (TFernandez, Vizquel and Thome), (Thome).

Florida IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Saunders L,0-1 2 7 6 6 3 2 68 27.00

Alfonseca 3 3 0 0 0 4 57 0.00

Vosberg 2 3 2 2 2 1 34 9.00

Powell 1 2 2 2 1 0 23 16.20

Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

JrWright W,1-0 6 5 3 3 5 5 105 4.50

BrAnderson S,1 3 1 0 0 0 2 38 2.70

Saunders pitched to 5 batters in the 3rd. Inherited runners-scored-Alfonseca 3-1. WP-JrWright. T-3:15. A-44,877 (43,863).