1995 Cleveland Indians: Week 7; Center Field Splits

The Indians finish off a long home stand with a visit from the Royals and then make a quick trip to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers for four. Then the Blue Jays visited, making this a full seven game week. Also, we review how center field fared against the rest of the AL.

June 5-June 7, 1995

June 5: Tigers 0, Indians 8

June 6: Tigers 3, Indians 4

June 7: Tigers 2, Indians 3, 10 innings

The opener of this series was a bit of snoozefest through three. But then the lineup woke up against Sean Bergman. Kenny Lofton led of the fourth with a solo shot. Eddie Murray hit a two run shot and Paul Sorrento singled in Jim Thome to make it 4-0. Lofton repeated his feat in the fifth. And the Tribe tacked on three more in the sixth on  an Omar Vizquel single, a Carlos Baerga grounder and an Albert Belle double. Meanwhile Orel Hershiser scattered six hits, didn't walk anyone and struck out 10 to get his shutout on 107 pitches.

Baerga opened the scoring in game two, knocking in Lofton in the first, Juan Samuel tied it up the next inning with a homer off Bud Black. The Tigers took the lead in the third on a Scott Fletcher double. But the lead was short lived as Baerga and Belle tacked on one each in the bottom half. Chad Curtis tied in the fifth on a groundout and the game stayed tied until the eighth. Murray opened with a single and Alvaro Espinosa ran for him. After a Thome flyout, Manny Ramirez walked. Sorrento loaded the bases with a single to left. The winning run scored on a Wayne Kirby grounder to second. Jose Mesa had a 1-2-3 ninth, retiring all three pinch hitters.

The finale had Charles Nagy facing Tribe nemesis David Wells. Murray got the scoring started with a solo shot in the second and Baerga pushed it to 2-0 the next inning, doubling in Tony Pena. Nagy cruised until the eighth. After a two out single by Curtis, Lou Whitaker took him deep to tie it up. The Tribe almost ended it in the ninth, but Wells escaped when Dave Winfield hit into a double play with the bases loaded.  Eric Plunk got the win when Thome walked off with a solo shot in the bottom of the tenth.

June 8-11, 1995

June 8: Indians 8, Brewers 7

June 9: Indians 7, Brewers 4

June 10: Indians 1, Brewers 6

June 11: Indians 11, Brewers 5

The Indian bats gave Dennis Martinez a 3-0 lead in the third, as Baerga double din Pena, Belle scored Lofton on a fly ball and Murray singled in Baerga. Pat Listach got one back with a single, but Lofton got it right back in the fourth. The Brewers trimmed it to one on RBI singles by John Jaha and David Hulse in the bottom half. They tied it up next inning on a BJ Surhoff double and took the lead in the sixth on a Jose Valentin grounder. Valentin added an insurance run in the eighth off Julian Tavarez. But the Tribe avoided a loss by scoring four in the ninth off Graeme Lloyd and Bill Wegman. Vizquel and Baerga singled with both scoring on Belle's double. Thome got the lead with a two run home run. Mesa made it a bit dicey in the ninth with a Fernando Vina RBI single, but retired both Jaha and Surhoff on grounders to end it.

Chad Ogea got the nod Friday night and Belle spotted him a quick 1-0 lead with a double, scoring Lofton. The Brewers took a quick 2-1 lead in the second. Belle tied it up, scoring Baerga this time on a single. Jaha doubled up the score on a two run homer in the third. Baerag ended Sid Roberson's day with a three run bomb in the fifth. Lofton tripled in Thome and scored on a Vizquel single to give Ogea three runs to work with. Plunk stranded a pair in the eight and Mesa had an uneventful ninth to notch his fourteenth save.

After winning seven in a row, the Tribe offense finally took a day off on Saturday. Hershiser was looking for his second win of the week and Belle gave him a 1-0 lead with a towering shot in the second. But Orel was not nearly as sharp as previously. Valentin tied it with a homer in the third. And the fourth was his undoing as Derrick May plated Darryl Hamilton and Hulse hit a three run bomb. Other than Belle's homer, the only other hits were a Manny double and Winfield single as Angel Miranda and Alberto Reyes silenced the bats.

The weekender was a laugher as the Tribe pounded out 19 hits on the afternoon. Lofton opened the game with a triple and scored on a Baerga single. Belle singled in both Vizquel and Baerga. Thome hit a three run shot in the third and Lofton drove in Kirby to make it 7-1. Baerga homers in the fourth to make 8-2. The closest the Brewers got to was 8-4 in the sixth. But Belle doubled in Omar and Murray singled in Baerga and Belle to push it to 11-4. Bud Black wasn't very sharp and left afrer 5.2 innings. Paul assenmacher, Plunk and Jim Poole mopped up.

Center Field Splits Review

For some reason, I don't recall that Lofton missed the last half of July with an injury. Wayne Kirby got the majority of the starts in his absence and also gave him a few games off here and there. Amaro made nine starts. Even with missing as much time as Lofton did, he still led the league in triples and stolen bases. He nabbed his third straight Gold Glove and second All-Star appearance.

Overall, the Tribe still had a better than average result in center compared to the league with the runs scored and stolen bases significantly better. That is easy to do when Baerga, Belle and Murray knocked him in all the time. The overall numbers would have been much better but both Kirby and Amaro struggled mightily in their stints as Lofton's replacement. Butin 1995, Bernie Williams, Jim Edmonds and Brady Anderson ended up surpassing Lofton's 109 wRC+.

Summary

Up until last week, the Indians and Red Sox were neck and neck for best record and most runs scored. The Tribe edged ahead on runs scored (+7) and opened a 4 game lead on the Red Sox for best record. The Central race was almost over at this point. Up 7.5 a quarter of the way in. The Central division was far from competitive as the Brewers, White Sox and Twins were 10 or more games back already with the Twins already 19! Next week the Indians return home for another long home stand, welcoming the Orioles and Yankees.