WORLD SERIES: ATLANTA BRAVES vs. CLEVELAND INDIANS : BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Hershiser Walks Out on Indians at Crucial Moment

His manager was surprised. His pitching coach was surprised.

Orel Hershiser, Mr. October of the mound, 7-0 in the postseason, took himself out of Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday night with the score tied, 1-1, in the seventh inning and Hershiser locked in the anticipated duel with Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves.

“I took myself out at that point because I didn’t think I was the right man for the job,” Hershiser said.

He had just walked the first two batters of the seventh inning, both of whom eventually scored, providing Atlanta with the margin of difference in a 3-2 victory over Hershiser and his Cleveland Indians.

“There’s no defense for walks and that’s what beat us,” Hershiser said, his postseason win streak--matching Bob Gibson’s record--now history.

The walks hurt, but that wasn’t all that beat the Indians. Maddux gave up only two hits. Both Cleveland runs were unearned.

Maddux, perhaps, has never been better, but Hershiser was right with him--until he suddenly wasn’t.

Working on a three-hitter in a 1-1 game, he walked Fred McGriff and David Justice to open the seventh. He had made only 101 pitches at that point. The left-handed Ryan Klesko was next.

Manager Mike Hargrove sent pitching coach Mark Wiley to the mound.

“Orel was pitching well. There was no indication he had run out of gas,” Hargrove said. “I sent Mark out to give him a breather. Orel is not reluctant to tell us he’s tired, but he caught us off-guard, he caught us by surprise.

“We had no indication that he’d tell Mark he was done. I thought maybe he hurt himself.”

Said Hershiser: “I wasn’t that tired and I certainly wasn’t hurt. I just completely lost my release point.

“Every single pitch I made [while walking McGriff and Justice] was high and away. I kept trying to make adjustments, but nothing worked.

“When Mark came out and asked how I felt, I told him I felt fine but I couldn’t make the right adjustment. I told him the mistakes I was making high and away were right where Klesko likes it.

“I told him he should bring in [left-hander Paul] Assenmacher and turn Klesko around.”

Wiley, who could remember only one other game in which Hershiser had asked out, said he was surprised.

“I told Orel that I can’t make the decision to change pitchers unless you’re telling me that you just can’t go on,” Wiley said.

“He indicated that it was such a big run at stake that we would be better off with Assenmacher because he was leaving everything high in the strike zone. Orel will always tell you how he feels. He’s not selfish. He’s never going to put himself ahead of the team.

“He caught us by surprise in this case, but he felt it was the better way to go. He had only made a hundred pitches, but in a game like this, where every pitch counts, you can wear down mentally. That may have played a part in it.”

Assenmacher had struck out Ken Griffey Jr. and Jay Buhner in the pivotal moment of Hershiser’s victory over Seattle in Game 5 of the American League championship series.

He wasn’t quite as sharp this time, although he had been warming up on a precautionary basis as the seventh inning began.

Right-hander Mike Devereux batted for Klesko and walked, loading the bases. Julian Tavarez replaced Assenmacher. Hargrove played the infield back, a decision that surprised many of his players.

Luis Polonia hit a hard grounder short-hopped by Gold Glove shortstop Omar Vizquel, who tried to shovel it to second baseman Carlos Baerga to initiate a double play. The ball stuck in his glove, however, and Vizquel was forced to race to the bag, narrowly beating Devereaux as the tie-breaking run scored. Replays showed he had dropped the ball before he got to the bag.

A squeeze bunt by Rafael Belliard scored Justice with the run that proved decisive.

The Indians, with their vaunted offense, are batting only .228 and averaging 4.2 runs in 10 postseason games, a fact lost amid their series victories over Boston and Seattle. Kenny Lofton’s bat and leg have produced the only consistency.

“Any time you shut down this lineup you have to have pitched a great game,” Hershiser said, adding that he couldn’t really see much of Maddux because the dugouts at Fulton County Stadium are so low. Hershiser threw his glove when he returned to the bench after excusing himself in the seventh.

“I was mad at myself for walking people in a tie game and mad at myself because I had lost the release point,” he said.

“It wasn’t a strong performance, but I pitched well at times and got away with mistakes that caught up with me later when McGriff and Justice took some pitches they were swinging at earlier.

“I had felt good, but all of a sudden it was gone and they needed to get somebody else in there.”

Gone, too, is his postseason win streak, but Hershiser said, “a loss is a loss, it doesn’t matter when.”

When? The man known as Bulldog left the October stage to the bit players of his bullpen Saturday night. A surprise, indeed.