Hershiser Maintains His Winning Form

It took Orel Hershiser all of three weeks at the end of his first season in an Indians’ uniform to set the Cleveland all-time record for most postseason victories.

He allowed a total of five earned runs in 29 1/3 innings, beating the Red Sox in Game 2 of the 1995 American League Division Series, the Mariners in Games 2 and 5 of the ALCS and the Braves in Game 5 of the World Series.

And if the 37-year-old right-hander keeps pitching the way he has been lately--and the Indians keep playing the way they have been all season--he figures to have a good chance to extend that record come October.

The curled left leg, the diving curveball, the nasty sinker, the focus and determination that made him a Dodger hero in the 1980s, it was all there Monday night in Anaheim Stadium as Hershiser held the Angels to two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts and four walks in seven innings of the Indians’ 5-4 victory.

Both of the Angels he walked in the eighth inning--Randy Velarde leading off and then Gary DiSarcina--came around to score, thanks to shaky relief performances by Paul Assenmacher and Paul Shuey.

But even with a lineup that featured three former Mets--Jeff Kent, Omar Vizquel and Mark Carreon--the Indians had enough offense for Hershiser, who improved his record to 12-7 and his earned-run average to 4.02.

“I just lost my release point, I wasn’t tired at all,” Hershiser said. “I made an adjustment after every pitch, but they all kept making the ball end up in the same place. Nine pitches, eight balls and eight adjustments.

“But I felt good and was executing pretty well otherwise. When I’ve got my location and a little bit of movement, I have a good chance of getting guys out.”

Monday night was the second time this year Hershiser has stymied the Angels. He shut them out, 5-0, June 8 in Cleveland, a victory that was the beginning of a five-game winning streak for him. At one point during the streak, he went 26 innings without allowing an earned run and he’s 8-3 with a 2.20 earned-run average in his last 13 starts beginning June 8.

It could have been an even more impressive nine weeks. The Indians managed a total of just four runs during the three losses.

Hershiser, who holds the major league record with 59 consecutive scoreless innings in 1988, says he has not changed that much since those glory days with the Dodgers.

“The velocity is still the same, maybe minus a couple of miles per hour,” he said. “The breaking stuff is maybe a little weaker, but the sinker is just as good or even better.”

The Indians signed free-agent Hershiser before the 1995 season and exercised a $1.55 million option for this year. Such a deal.

Cleveland is 14-4 in his last 18 starts.

“Orel has been on a good roll lately and he had a stretch in there of about six or eight starts where he was darn near unhittable,” Manager Mike Hargrove said. “Early in the season, his mechanics were pretty messed up, but he’s got that all straightened out and when his sinker is working, it’s easy to see how he got that record of 59 scoreless innings.”

The Angels have fallen so far that they were reduced to guinea pigs as Hershiser worked to get ready for the postseason.

“I was doing a little experimentation out there,” he said. “We’ve got a stretch run coming up that will hopefully lead to the playoffs and beyond, and left-handers have hit me well lately. So I figured I better start working on getting better against them.”

If the Angels in their current state are any indication, Hershiser is making progress. Left-handed hitters were 3-for-14 against him Monday night.