This week in 1995: Tribe beats Red Sox, get swept by White Sox

After losing their first series in a month, the Indians faced the first place Red Sox and then started a long trip by visiting the Sox of a paler color.  Also, we review how the designated hitters fared against the rest of the AL.

June 19-June 21, 1995

June 19: Red Sox 3, Indians 4, 10 innings

June 20: Red Sox 2, Indians 9

June 21: Red Sox 3, Indians 1

Dennis Martinez faced off against the knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in the opener. A two run double by Mike Macfarlane in the second and a John Valentin solo shot in the third had the Tribe down 3-0 early. Albert Belle drove in Kenny Lofton with a sacrifice fly in the third and Jim Thome crushed one to right-center to make it 3-2 in the fourth. Belle's homer in the fifth knotted it up, but then the bats went mostly silent for both sides. Manny Ramirez walked off the Indians in the bottom of the tenth with a bomb to deep right-center off Ken Ryan. This was the team's sixth walk off.

Vaughn Eshelmand and Chad Ogea traded zeroes until the Tribe offense awoke in the fifth. A bases clearing double by Lofton and a Carlos Baerga RBI knock made it 4-0 and Herb Perry tacked on a notehr in the fifth with a single. Another RBI by Baerga, this time on a double, and a Murray RBI single made it 7-0 in the seventh. Ogea's only blemish was in the eighth when Macfarlane scored on a Lee Tinsley hit. Tony Pena and Lofton tacked on two more in the eighth. Gregg Olson made his Tribe debut in the nonth and Chris Donnels went deep to make the final tally 9-2.

Orel Hershiser went for the sweep against Erik Hanson. Both Mike Greenwell and Mo Vaughn took him deep early, and Hershiser left in the fourth after a double by Greenwell. Greenwell would score on a fly ball by Mark Whiten off Jim Poole. Tony Pena scored Manny after his leadoff triple in the fifth, but that was all the offense the Indians could muster against eight inning from Hanson and closer Stan Belinda in the ninth.

June 23-25, 1995

June 23: Indians 5, White Sox 12

June 24: Indians 3, White Sox 8

June 25: Indians 2, White Sox 3

After a day off on Thursday, the Tribe headed to Comiskey Park. Charles Nagy faced Jason Bere in the opener. Eddie Murray started the scoring with a line drive sacrifice fly that scored Lofton in the fourth. But Nagy unraveled in the fifth as Ozzie Guilen drove in a pair and Fran Thomas went deep with a pair onboard. Baerga drove in Lofton on a double in the fifth, but Poole (who had pitched three innings on Wednesday) was hit hard in the fifth. He and Olson allowed seven runners to plate making this a laugher. The only other Tribe highlight was a three run homer by Lofton in the seventh that chased Bere.

Saturday's game wasn't much better. Lofton did open the game with a solo shot. But Bud Black gave up a pair in the first on a double by John Kruk and three more in the second after Belle botched a fly ball in left. Albie Lopez had to come on in the third after Mike LaValliere and Guillen plated three more. Alex Fernandez completed the game with his only other black marks being a bases loaded walk to Paul Sorrento in the fourth and a solo shot to Baerga in the fifth.

Dennis Martinez tried to avoid the sweep against Wilson Alvarez in the finale. But Dave Martinez took him deep in the first and an RBI grounder by LaValliere in th second made it a quick 2-0 deficit. The Tribe ties in the fourth when Baerga doubled in Omar Vizquel and Manny singled in Baerga. The game stayed tied until the eighth. Paul Assenmacher took over for Martinez and after walking a pair, Robin Ventura singled up the middle. Tony Pena reached on a two out single in the ninth, but Scott Radinsky closed it out and the Tribe had been swept for the first time all season.

Designated Hitter Splits Review

The numbers Eddie Murray put up in 1995, even in an offensive era, were fairly impressive. And even more so when you account for the fact he was 39 that season. He drove in 75 and had 17 homers. Heck, he even had five steals. Winfield did poorly, but he was 43 that year. Sorrento was pretty awful in his short stint at DH. Most everyone lese just played a few games here or there, or were late inning pinch runners (Amaro, Kirby, Giles, Espinoza, Burntiz).

As a whole, the group was just about league average, with Murray definitely above average (128 wRC+). But 1995 was one of the glory years for DHs in the AL. Edgar Martinez had a 182 wRC+ and the Big Hurt had a 168. Chili Davis of the Angels, Jose Canseco of the Red Sox, Harold Baines of the Orioles and Mickey Tettleton of the Rangers all had 130 or better.

Summary

The Indians had their longest losing streak of the season and the massive lead was trimmed down to 5.5 games. And of the team's seventeen losses on the season, seven had occurred over the previous two weeks. Even though they still maintained the best record in baseball, was this the start of  a regression? Next week, the conclusion of the long road trip as they play three in Kansas City and four in Minnesota.