This week in 1995: The Indians blasted the Blue Jays and Tigers

The Indians play Toronto for four games at home, then head up to Detroit in a four game series wrapped around the Labor Day holiday.  Also, we review how the Tribe fared against the AL East pitching wise.

August 28-31, 1995

August 28: Blue Jays 1, Indians 9

August 29: Blue Jays 1, Indians 4

August 30: Blue Jays 3, Indians 4, 14 innings

August 31: Blue Jays 4, Indians 6, 10 innings

A pair of singles by Kenny Lofton and Omar Vizquel got the Indians off to a quick start as Lofton would score on a Carlos Baerga groundout. But it was the second inning that doomed Giovanni Carrara and the Blue Jays. Eddie Murray led off with a homer. After two outs, Paul Sorrento also homered. Sandy Alomar reached on an error and then scored when Lofton singled. Lofton stole second and went to third on an errant throw. After Vizquel walked, Baerga singled, Albert Belle doubled, and Murray singled in two more to make it 8-0. Manny Ramirez added a solo shot in the third to complete the Tribe scoring. Chad Ogea allowed just one run in the fourth, while Paul Assenmacher and Julian Tavarez wrapped it up.

The Tuesday matchup between Mark Clark and Juan Guzman was scoreless until the fourth when Baerga singled and went to second on an error and third on a grounder. He scored when Murray singled to right. Alomar and Lofton had RBI singles in the seventh, with Murray scoring the fourth run in the eighth on an Alomar grounder. Clark had a three hit complete game, with the only run a Paul Molitor solo shot in the ninth.

The Blue Jays got their first lead of the series on Saturday when Devon White walked and then scored on a Molitor single and an error by Lofton. But the Tribe quickly tied it up in the third on an RBI single by Vizquel. Herb Perry triples in Manny in the sixth off Pat Hentgen, but Shane Green homered off Dennis Martinez in the seventh to tie it right back up. It stayed knotted until the fourteenth, when Robbie Alomar doubled off Assenmacher and then Joe Carter singled. A walk to Ed Sprague loaded the bases and Robbie scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Huff. But the Tribe did not go quietly. Lofton doubled off Tony Castillo to lead off. Vizquel bunted him over and Baerga plated him with his own sacrifice fly. Then Belle crushed his 32nd homer to deep left to walk off with the victory.

In the finale, both Lofton and Vizquel singled in the first and both would score on outs by Jim Thome and Belle. The Blue Jays took the lead off Ken Hill in the fourth on RBIs by John Olerud, Sprague and Green. Murray tied it off starter Edwin Hurtado in the sixth with a base hit, but again, the Blue Jays went right back up by one in the seventh. In the bottom of the ninth, Manny singled and Wayne Kirby pinch ran for him. Sandy doubled him to third and he scored on a Baerga fly out. Belle made it back to back walk offs in the tenth with a two run shot off Jimmy Rogers.

September 1-3, 1995

September 1: Indians 14, Tigers 4

September 2: Indians 2, Tigers 3

September 3: Indians 9, Tigers 8, 10 innings

The winning streak reached nine on Friday as the Tribe bats tattooed Tiger pitching for 14 runs on 21 hits. The initial big blow was a three run homer by Sandy Alomar in the fourth to give the Tribe a 5-4 lead off Jose Lima. It was actually a 7-4 score heading to the eighth when Belle hit a grand slam off Mike Myers. Charles Nagy got the victory with four runs in seven innings.

The streak ended on Saturday as Felipe Lira silenced the bats. The Tigers got the first run on an error by Vizquel and a sacrifice fly by Travis Fryman. Omar atoned in the third with his own deep fly out, but Fryman again had an RBI off Orel Hershiser. Again, Omar tied it up, this time in the sixth and with a home run. But the Tigers won in the sixth with a walk to Bobby Higginson, a grounder and a double by John Flaherty.

Albie Lopez got the start on Sunday and was treated to a quick 4-0 lead in the first with a pair of RBI singles by Baerga and Thome wrapped around a 2 run double by Belle. Herb Perry added another in the fifth, but Cecil Fielder crushed a three run shot in the fourth. Belle hit another bomb to make it 6-3 in the fifth. The Tribe tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth on RBI doubles by Tony Pena and Vizquel. Albie was pulled in the eighth after a solo shot by Phil Nevin made it 8-4. Tavarez loaded the bases in the ninth and Jose Mesa was called in. And for just the second time all year, couldn't hold the lead. Ron Tingley hit a grand slam to tie the game at eight. Omar got the lead right back in the tenth with a single to center, plating pinch runner Kirby. Mesa dodged a pair of singles in the tenth to win his third game.

Pitching: AL East Splits Review

Hershiser went and incredible 8-3 in his 14 starts. Martinez (4-2) and Nagy (6-3) started 11 each while Clark (3-4) stared 10. Ogea (5-0) was dominant in his nine appearances, six being starts. Mesa racked up 21 saves in his 27 outings while Tavarez was a great vulture, going 6-1 in his 26 appearances.

Summary

The Tribe had another fantastic 6-1 week, with three extra inning wins and two of them being Albert Belle home run walkoffs.  After eliminating the Twins a week ago, this week the White sox were officially eliminated. They almost had two teams eliminated by the end of August, but they White Sox held off to September 1.  Next week, the Indians finish this Detroit series on Labor Day, then play two in Milwaukee. Then they have a makeup game with the Mariners at the Jake and the Orioles visit over the weekend.