Ogea Keeps Indians Going Pitcher Drives In Two, Scores One And Beats Brown For Second Time In Series, Forcing Game 7

One more chance.

For the Cleveland Indians to break their curse.

For the Florida Marlins to write a fantastic finish.

For this World Series to redeem itself.

It all comes down to Game 7.

The Indians forced a seesaw Series to a final game tonight, defeating Florida 4-1 Saturday night when Chad Ogea became the first Cleveland pitcher in 25 years to drive in a run.

Ogea, who had not gotten a hit since high school, battled for a two-run single early and later doubled and scored. He lasted barely beyond the fifth inning, but it was enough to beat Kevin Brown for the second time in the Series.

Now, a week that has often lacked drama and been known mostly for snow and sloppy play has the ultimate - the first World Series Game 7 since 1991, that memorable night in the Metrodome when Jack Morris pitched all 10 innings and led Minnesota over Atlanta 1-0.

Marlins manager Jim Leyland was looking forward to Game 7.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “In fact, that’s probably the way it should be.”

A sensational play by shortstop Omar Vizquel, strong work by the bullpen and a record-tying two sacrifice flies by Manny Ramirez helped Cleveland continue the teams’ pattern of alternating wins.

Al Leiter, hit hard in Game 3, will start tonight for the Marlins against 21-year-old rookie Jaret Wright.

For Cleveland, the final game of the 1997 season marks one more chance to overcome a legacy of losing that spans nearly a half-century. The Indians have not won the World Series since 1948, with their fans’ frustration starting about the time Willie Mays robbed Vic Wertz in the 1954 Series.

“We’ve got a club that everybody had written off a long time ago, and perhaps rightfully so,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “These guys have a lot of heart.”

For Florida, the last game means an opportunity to a fast climb that has lasted only half a decade. The Marlins are trying to become the youngest franchise to win the World Series.

Wearing their lucky blue jerseys for the first time in the postseason, the Indians did not wilt in the balmy conditions Saturday. It was 80 degrees with 85 percent humidity at the start at Pro Player Stadium, a sharp contrast to frosty Jacobs Field, where the wind chill factors averaged 27 degrees for the middle three games.

While the warm weather was not a surprise, the skill Ogea showed with the bat was a shock.

Ogea credited his father for teaching him how to hit, and he surely made his dad proud for what he did his first two times at bat, getting two hits.

“I just tried to swing hard in case I hit the ball,” said Ogea, who was using fellow pitcher Orel Hershiser’s bat. “My father always taught me to hit to right field, so I tried to do that.”

The game was scoreless in the second inning when a leadoff single by Matt Williams, a walk to Jim Thome and a one-out walk to Marquis Grissom loaded the bases.

Up stepped Ogea, who, after fouling off four pitches and taking two others, lined a single to the right of first baseman Jeff Conine.

In the fifth, Ogea grounded a double between Conine and the bag, and later scored on Ramirez’s fly for a 4-0 lead. Ramirez also had a sacrifice fly in the third.

Indians 4, Marlins 1

Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Roberts 2b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .273 TFernandez 2b 1 0 1 0 0 0 .500 Vizquel ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 .240 Ramirez rf 1 0 0 2 1 0 .174 Justice lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .227 MaWilliams 3b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .417 Thome 1b 3 1 0 0 1 2 .292 SAlomar c 3 0 0 0 1 1 .400 Grissom cf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .381 Ogea p 2 1 2 2 0 0 .500 MJackson p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Assenmacher p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —d-Seitzer ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Mesa p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —Totals 30 4 7 4 4 8 Florida AB R H BI BB SO Avg. DWhite cf 5 0 3 0 0 1 .296 Renteria ss 5 0 0 0 0 2 .231 Sheffield rf 3 0 0 0 2 0 .300 Bonilla 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .167 Conine 1b 2 0 0 0 0 0 .250 b-Eisenrch ph-1b 1 0 0 0 1 1 .571 Alou lf 3 1 1 0 1 0 .348 CJohnson c 4 0 2 0 0 0 .375 Counsell 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .211 KJBrown p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 a-Daulton ph 0 0 0 1 0 0 .467 FHeredia p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —c-Cangelosi ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .500 Powell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —Vosberg p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —e-Floyd ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 34 1 8 1 4 5 Cleveland 021 010 000 - 4 Florida 000 010 000 - 1 a-hit a sacrifice fly for Brown in the 5th. b-walked for Conine in the 6th. c-singled for Heredia in the 7th. d-grounded out for Assenmacher in the 9th. e-grounded out for Vosberg in the 9th.

LOB-Cleveland 5, Florida 11. 2B-Vizquel (2), MaWilliams (1), Ogea (1). 3B-DWhite (1). RBIs-Ramirez 2 (6), Ogea 2 (2), Daulton (2). SB-Vizquel 2 (3), DWhite (1). CS-Roberts (1). SF-Ramirez 2, Daulton. GIDP- Roberts.

Runners left in scoring position-Cleveland 2 (Justice, Seitzer); Florida 7 (Renteria 2, Sheffield, Bonilla 2, CJohnson 2).

Runners moved up-Grissom, Alou.

DP-Florida 1 (Counsell, Renteria and Conine).

Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Ogea W, 2-0 5 4 1 1 2 1 71 1.54 MJackson 2 2 0 0 2 2 39 2.25 Assenmacher 1 1 0 0 0 1 12 0.00 Mesa S, 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 13 5.40 Florida IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA KJBrown L, 0-2 5 5 4 4 3 2 89 8.18 FHeredia 2 0 0 0 0 4 25 0.00 Powell 1 2 0 0 0 1 22 10.13 Vosberg 1 0 0 0 1 1 13 6.00 Ogea pitched to 1 batter in the 6th, Powell pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-MJackson 1-0, Vosberg 1-0.

IBB-off Vosberg (SAlomar) 1.

T-3:15. A-67,498 (41,855).

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ON DECK Game 7: Cleveland (Jaret Wright) at Florida (Al Leiter), today, 4:35 p.m. (NBC)