A Look Back At This Date In Cleveland Indians Playoff History; Oct. 4

October 4

1995 ALDS Game 2, Jacobs Field: Indians 4, Red Sox 0

After a late night, the Indians seemed half asleep in the first inning. Orel Hershiser took the mound and on the first pitch, Dwayne Hosey hit a liner to Albert Belle in left who misplayed it into a two base error. Next up was John Valentin who was safe as well when Paul Sorrento dropped Omar Vizquel's throw. Luckily Sorrento threw out Hosey at third base. A wild pitch got Valentin to second, but he knuckled down and struck out Mo Vaughn and Jose Canseco flew out. The Tribe got a first and third situation in their half on a Valentin error on Omar Vizquel's grounder and Albert Belle's single. But Erik Hanson struck out Eddie Murray to end the first.

In the second, the Red Sox loaded the bases after two outs on a Willie McGee single, a Mike Macfarlane single and a Luis Alicea walk. But again Hershiser was up to the task as Hosey grounded out. The only other baserunners til the fifth were Sorrento after getting hit by a pitch and an Eddie Murray triple (!). Hershiser worke around a Macfarlane single in the fifth but Hanson was not as lucky. He walked Sorrento, Sandy Alomar bunted him over and Sorrento took third on a passed ball. Kenny Lofton walked and Vizquel doubled them both home.

Both Hershiser and Hanson pitched perfect sixth and seventh frames. Hershiser walked Alicea in the eighth, and after Hosey forced him at second, Julian Tavarez retired Valentin on a popup. Paul Assenmacher did his thing, striking out Vaughn. A one out walk to Belle led to an Eddie Murray homer, doubling the score to 4-0. Hanson did finish the eighth to get his complete game. That is because Jose Mesa retired Canseco, Mike Greenwell and Tim Naehring in order to take a 2-0 series lead.

1996 ALDS Game 3, Jacobs Field: Indians 9, Orioles 4

After a much needed day off and their backs to the proverbial wall, the Indians returned home to their so called home advantage. The odds were not in their favor as Mike Mussina was to face off against Jack McDowell. The Indians were fortunate to take their first lead of a game in the series when Kenny Lofton reached second when Bobby Bonilla misplayed his fly ball. He stole third and scored on Kevin Seitzer's grounder. The lead was short lived though as the Orioles loaded the bases on a Bonilla single, Eddie Murray single, Chris Hoiles walk and a Brady Anderson hit by pitch. They left them loaded when Todd Zeile struck out.

Manny Ramirez hit a solo shot in the second and then Omar Vizquel singled and Jose Vizcaino doubled him home, the lead now 3-1. After a 1-2-3 third, Ripken and Murray singled in the fourth with BJ Surhoff hitting a three run homer. The Tribe tied it again in the bottom of the fourth on a Vizquel single, Vizcaino double and a Seitzer single. Both teams went in order in the fifth and sixth. In the seventh, Hoiles singled and Anderson walked. Paul Shuey got a PBF from Zeile and walked Robbie to make it first and third, but survived when Palmeiro flew out.

The Indians took the lead in the seventh. Lofton and Seitzer both walked off Jesse Orosco with Lofton stealing second prior to the walk. Casey Candale pinch hit for Thome and also walked, loading the bases. With Albert Belle due up, Armando Benitez came on to face him. Bam, grand slam to deep left center. After Eric Plunk had a 1-2-3 eighth, the Tribe added an insurance run in the bottom half on a Omar single, Lofton walk, both off Arthur Rhodes. After Terry Mathews relieved, Lofton and Vizquel pulled off a double steal with Omar scoring on the subsequent Seitzer single. Jose Mesa worked around a Surhoff leadoff single in the ninth and the Indians staved off elimination, down two games to one.

1997 ALDS Game 3, Jacobs Field: Yankees 6, Indians 1

After a second day off in three days, the teams headed back to Jacobs Field tied at one. Workhorse Charles Nagy was slated to face Indians nemesis David Wells. Nagy had a busy first. He walked Tim Raines to start the game, and when he tried to force Raines at second, his throw was wild, given the Yankees first and third with nobody out. Paul O'Neill made him pay with a single to right. He retired Bernie Williams on a swinging bunt, O'Neill moving to second. After walking Tino Martinez to load the bases, he struck out Cecil Fielder and retired Charlie Hayes on a liner to center. The Indians tied it up in the second on singles by Matt Williams and David Justice and a force out by Tony Fernandez.

A leadoff walk to Derek Jeter in the third led to another run via a stolen base and a RBI single by Martinez. In the fourth, Hayes hit a loud out to deep right and Joe Girardi worked a walk, moving to second on a Rey Sanchez grounder. Nagy then set up a double play by walking Raines to get to Jeter. Jeter was patient though, and he walked as well loading the bases. Mike Hargrove pulled Nagy in favor of Chad Ogea. Ogea battled O'Neill to a full count, but he hit a grand slam to extend the lead to 6-1.

Working with a good lead, Wells set to sealing the deal. Manny Ramirez reached on a Hayes error in the fourth. Marquis Grissom and Omar Vizquel were stranded at first and third in the fifth. A two out double by David Justice netted the same, nothing. In the final three frames, not a single Indian got on base with only Vizquel working a full count. Wells finished his complete game with five hits, no walks and just one strikeout, Sandy Alomar to finish the game. He threw 104 pitches, 74 for strikes. Other than the O'Neill home run, Ogea pitched great as well. In 5.1 innings, just two hits, no walks and one strike out. But the Yankees now led two games to one and needed just one victory in game four or five to clinch the series.

2007 ALDS Game 1, Jacobs Field: Indians 12, Yankees 3

After finishing tied with the best record in the AL at 96-66, the Tribe was slated to face the Wild Card Yankees in the ALDS. CC Sabathia got his first taste of the postseason in six years by taking on Chien-Ming Wang. The Yankees struck first, with Johnny Damon leading off the game with a line drive homer. Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez worked one out walks before Sabathia settled in and struck out Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui grounded out. Wang was just as nervous as he hit Grady Sizemore with the first pitch. Asdrubal Cabrera promptly hit into a double play. But Travid Hafner walked, Victor Martinez singled and Ryan Garko tied the game on a single. Jhonny Peralta walked to load the bases and Kenny Lofton singled two in, with Peralta out at third ending the inning with a 3-1 lead.

Sabathia retired six of the next eight in the second and third innings. Asdrubal homered in the third but Robinson Cano matched it in the fourth and the score was 4-2. Abreu doubled in Shelley Duncan (who had pinch hit for Doug Mientkiewicz) in the fifth to get the Yankees a run closer. Wang was finally chased in the fifth. Asdrubal walked and scored on a Victor homer. After doubling with two out, Lofton scored him and on came Ross Ohlendorf. Lofton stole second, Franklin Gutierrez walked and both scored on a Casey Blake double, 9-3 Tribe.

As CC had already thrown 114 pitches through five, Rafael Perez pitched a 1-2-3 sixth. Travis Hafner hit a solo shot and Lofton doubled another in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead to 11-3. Perez had another perfect seventh, getting four of his six batters to strike out. Jensen Lewis had a perfect eighth as well. Garko completed the scoring with a solo shot in the eighth off Phil Hughes. Rafael Betancourt allowed the Yankees their first baserunner since the fifth, a two out single by Jason Giambi, but Damon lined out to end the game. And the Indians had their first post season win since 2001.