A Look Back At This Date In Cleveland Indians Playoff History; Oct. 6

October 6

1920 World Series Game 2, Ebbets Field: Robins 3, Indians 0

For Game 2, Jim Bagby faced off against Burleigh Grimes. Manager Tris Speaker managed a two out single but nothing materialized. The Robins started a bit quicker. A one out single by Jimmy Johnston and a stolen base put him in scoring position. Tommy Griffith moved him over on a ground ball and Zach Wheat doubled him in. The Indians got one baserunner each in the second and third innings, a double by Lee Gardner (who was thrown out at third trying to advance on a ground ball) and a Charlie Jamieson single. After a clean second, Bagby had to work in the third. Grimes led off with a single and Ivy Olson tried to bunt him over. Bagby erred on his throw to second and the Robins had first and second with nobody out. Johnston popped foul to catcher, but Griffith doubled in Grimes. Zach Wheat was walked to get to Hi Myers, which worked because he hit into an inning ending double play.

Speaker worked a walk to lead off the fourth, but the next six guys all made outs. Bagby's pattern continued. He had a perfect fourth but in the fifth a third run materialized on an Olson single, a Johnston grounder that moved him over and a Griffith RBI single. Speaker reached base for the third straight time with a two out double in the sixth. Two singles from Gardner and Steve O'Neill did not come to fruition in the seventh. After Jack Graney struck out for Bagby, George Uhle pitched a perfect seventh.

The Tribe's best chance to score came in the eighth. A leadoff walk to Jamieson, and another to George Burns (who hit for Bill Wambsganss) got the tying run to the plate. Speaker could not continue his perfect day, but moved them over on a grounder to second. Elmer Smith then fouled out to catcher, but Gardner walked, loading the bases for Doc Johnston. But he hit into a force at second. Uhle had another 1-2-3 and the Indians only managed a two out single by pinch hitter Les Nunamaker in the ninth. The Robins had ties the best of nine at one apiece.

1948 World Series Game 1, Braves Field: Braves 3, Indians 0

After an exciting season where the Yankees were just two games back and the Red Sox finished in a dead heat with the Indians, there was a tense filled play-in game with the Red Sox to earn the right to play in the World Series. That 8-3 victory allowed the Indians (97-58) to stick around in Boston and take on the Braves who won the NL by 6.5 games (91-62) and who would have finished 4.5 games back of the Indians (and behind the Sox and Yankees). This was not the typical Spahn and Sain pray for rain squad as they led the NL in average, on base percentage and were second in slugging.

The opener pitted Bob Feller against Johnny Sain. And the expected duel was fulfilled. Sain allowed singles to Ken Keltner in the second, Joe Gordon in the fourth, Jim Hegan in the fifth and Larry Doby in the sixth. He also worked around two Bob Elliott errors in the third and ninth. Five of those baserunners did make it to second, but no one reached third and with no walks and six strikeouts, Sain had his shutout.

Feller was almost Sain's equal as he only allowed a walk and stolen base to Earl Torgeson in the fourth and a Marv Rickert single in the fifth up until the eighth. Bill Salkeld led off with a walk, and after pinch runner Phil Masi pinch ran, was sacrificed to second by Mike McCormick. Feller intentionally passed Eddie Stanky, with Sibby Sisti running for him. Sain lined out to right for the second out, but Tommy Holmes singled in Masi for the only run of the game. And the braves took the first game of the series 1-0, just like the final score of this game.

1995 ALDS Game 3, Fenway Park: Indians 8, Red Sox 2

After a travel day, the Indians headed to Beantown to try and end the series in a sweep. Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield faces off against Charles Nagy. The Indians went in order in the top of the first. Nagy went out-walk-out-walk-out in his half. A one out walk to Eddie Murray and a Jim Thome shot to deep right gave the Indians an early 2-0 lead. They sent seven batters to bat in the third, but only netted a single run on a bases loaded walk to Thome. After a 1-2-3 second inning from Nagy, he dodges a second and third one out scenario in the third. Dwayne Hosey walked and John Valentin doubled. But he struck out Mo Vaughn and Jose Canseco lined out.

The Red Sox loaded the bases in the third on three singles by Reggie Jefferson, Tim Naehring and Luis Alicea. Mike Macfarlane lined to Belle in left, scoring Jefferson, cutting the lead to 3-1. Wakefield had a perfect fourth and fifth, but the sixth was his undoing. Murray singled to start the inning. After Thome flew out to left, Manny Ramirez coaxed a walk. Paul Sorrento singled in Murray and Sandy Alomar doubled in Manny. Rheal Cormier replaced Wakefield and struck out Kenny Lofton. But an Omar two run single and RBI double by Carlos Baerga put the lead at 8-1, ending Cormier's outing and pretty much the Sox' hopes.

Nagy had a perfect sixth and worked around a Lofton error in the seventh. Mike Hargrove went to the pen and bench in the eighth. Alvaro Espinosa took over for Thome at third, Wayne Kirby replaced Manny in right and Julian Tavarez entered his third straight game. The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out on three singles of their own by Naehring, Alicea and MacFarlane. Pinch hitter Willie McGee forced Macfarlane, scoring Naehring and Valentin forced McGee to end the eighth. The Tribe left the bases loaded against Joe Hudson in the ninth. Paul Assenmacher pitched a perfect ninth and the Indians headed off to the ALCS.

1997 ALDS Game 5, Jacobs Field: Indians 4, Yankees 3

Jaret Wright was slated to face off against Andy Pettitte in this pressure packed Game 5 against the hated Yankees. Tim Raines led off with a single and stole second in the first inning. After Derek Jeter struck out, Paul O'Neill moved him over on a grounder back to Wright. Berine Williams worked a walk but Tino Martinez popped out to end the inning, keeping the game scoreless. The Tribe did their own small ball in the bottom, a Bip Roberts infield single, a sacrifice by Omar Vizquel, and a Manny Ramirez grounder moved him to third, but Matt Williams also grounded out, ending the inning.

Mike Stanley and Charlie Hayes both singled to start the second, but Joe Girardi hit into a 1-4-6-3 double play and Rey Sanchez popped out. Pettitte had a 1-2-3 second and Wright only allowed a two out single by O'Neill in the top of the third. Marquis Grissom and Roberts both singled with one out in the third. Omar forced Roberts at second, but stole second himself, making it second and third with Ramirez up with two out. He hit a ground rule double, scoring both runners and after Matt Williams singled, the Tribe led 3-0. They tacked on another in the fourth on a leadoff double by Sandy Alomar. Jim Thome sacrificed him to third and he scored on a Tony Fernandez liner to right.

The 4-0 lead was sliced in half in the top of the fifth. Raines walked with one out, stole second and ended up at third when Alomar's throw got away. Jeter struck out and O'Neill also walked. Bernie Williams singled to right, scoring Raines easily, but O'Neill came all the way around on Manny's error, with Bernie landing on second. Martinez popped out to end the inning. In the sixth, Stanley led off with a double, and after retiring Hayes on a grounder, pinch hitter Wade Boggs scored Stanley with a patented singled by Boggs. Mike Hargrove, seeing the lead down to one called upon Mike Jackson earlier than usual and he retired both Jorge Posada and Raines.

After a leadoff single by Jeter, left Assenmacher did his job, getting O'Neill to hit into a forceout and then staying in for Bernie Williams, an unassisted 6-3 double play. The Indians offense did nothing to Pettitte after the fourth going in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh, with Jeff Nelson getting the final out in that seventh inning. Assenmacher stayed in for Martinez in the eighth and got him to pop out to Alomar in foul ground. Doing his job, he gave way to a five out save opportunity for Jose Mesa. He struck out Stanley, but after Hayes singles to center, Boggs singled pinch runner Andy Fox to third. Posada was not able to capitalize, grounding back to Mesa. The Tribe threatened for insurance runs in the bottom half, but Justice struck out swinging with Omar and Matt Williams on first and second.

In the ninth, Raines and Jeter both grounded out, but O'Neill doubled to put himself into scoring position. Scott Pose pinch ran for him, but Bernie Williams didn't quite get enough of Mesa's next pitch, flying out to deep left-center and the Tribe was moving onto the ALCS to face the Orioles.

1998 ALCS Game 1, Yankee Stadium II: Yankees 7, Indians 2

After knocking off the wild card Red Sox, the Tribe's reward was with the 114-48 New York juggernaut Yankees who had swept the AL West winning Texas Rangers, allowing just a single run and 13 hits in three games. Jaret Wright took on David Wells in this opening matchup. Tribe killer Wells (20-4 lifetime) was his usual fantastic self, five hits, one walk and seven strikeouts in 8.1 innings. He did give up two runs, but that was on a two run homer by Manny Ramirez in the ninth after a 7-0 lead. Joey Cora had a walk in the first but was erased on a double play, Ramirez also got a single in the second, Omar Vizquel got one in the third (with a steal), David Justice had one in the seventh and Cora singled before Manny's homer. Jeff Nelson recorded the final two outs.

Wright, wasn't so lucky. He didn't get out of the first. Consecutive singles by Chuck Knoblauch, Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead they wouldn't relinquish. Tino Martinez grounded into a force play and when Tim Raines struck out, Martinez stole second. A wild pitch scored O'Neill, a walk to Shane Spencer made it first and third and Jorge Posada ended Wright's night with a run scoring single. Chad Ogea came in and Scott Broisius completed the bat around with an RBI single, 5-0 after one. Ogea gave up a solo shot to Posada in the sixth and back to back doubles by O'Neill and Williams to complete the scoring. After one game, the Tribe was down in the series.

1999 ALDS Game 1, Jacobs Field: Indians 3, Red Sox 2

After a disappointing finish in 1998, the Tribe came back in 1999 with another dominating season. They finished at 97-65, 21.5 games up on the White Sox. They finished just one game behind the Yankees while the Texas Rangers were just two games back of them. Their reward was to take on the Boston Red Sox who finished at 94-68. Opening at home, the Tribe sent its ace out to take on the dominating Pedro Martinez. After a 1-2-3 by Colon, Robbie Alomar singled with two out and stole second, but Martinez struck out Manny Ramirez.

Nomar Garciaparra homered to lead off the second and doubled to lead off the fourth, scoring on a Mike Stanley single. With a 2-0 lead, Pedro was going to be tough to beat. But he was pulled after just four innings after pulling a muscle in his back. Derek Lowe pitched a perfect fifth, but with two out in the sixth, John Valentin booted Manny's grounder. Jim Thome went deep, and the game was all square.

Colon allowed a leadoff single to Stanley in the seventh, had perfect eighth and Paul Shuey had a perfect ninth. Lowe struck out the side in the seventh and had a 1-2-3 eighth. He did hit Manny to start the bottom of the ninth. Rheal Cormier came in and Thome flew out to left. Wil Cordero pinch hit for Harold Baines and singled Manny to second. Rich Garces came in and walked pinch hitter Richie Sexson (for David Justice), loading the bases. Travis Fryman singled to left and the Tribe led the series 1-0. And with Pedro's return questionable, things were looking decent.