Brave Relievers Closed Out This Time

Mike Bielecki turned what was supposed to be the soft underbelly of the Atlanta Braves bullpen into the Abs of Steel Wednesday night.

But closer Mark Wohlers then turned to jelly, giving up Jim Leyritz’s game-tying, three-run homer in the eighth inning and barely escaping a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the ninth.

Steve Avery, the Braves’ starter-turned-reliever, then walked in the winning run in the top of the 10th, as the New York Yankees erased a six-run deficit and beat the Braves, 8-6, in Game 4 before a stunned Fulton County Stadium crowd of 51,881.

“Everything that happened from the eighth inning on shouldn’t have happened,” Wohlers said. “I have a job to do and get paid good money to do that job, and I blew it. But I’ve got to put this behind me. It’s a frustrating loss, but I’ve had a few in my career.”

What a role reversal this was for the Braves’ bullpen, whose middle relievers were considered suspect but whose closer is considered one of baseball’s best.

Wohlers converted 39 of 44 save opportunities in the regular season, striking out 100 in 77 1/3 innings, and the flame-throwing right-hander had a spotless postseason resume before Wednesday night, giving up only two hits and no runs in 7 1/3 innings.

But starting the eighth inning for only the second time this season, Wohlers looked ragged in Game 4, giving up singles to Charlie Hayes and Darryl Strawberry to open the inning.

Shortstop Rafael Belliard then bobbled Mariano Duncan’s potential double-play ball, settling for a forceout at second. The play would cost the Braves dearly.

Instead of having a runner on third with two outs, the Yankees had runners on first and third with one out. When Leyritz banged a belt-high, hanging slider over the left-field wall it was a game-tying, three-run homer instead of a two-run shot.

Wohlers then gave up two-out singles to Cecil Fielder, Hayes and Strawberry in the ninth, and Duncan followed with a sinking liner to right. But right fielder Jermaine Dye, whose sixth-inning error allowed a run to score, sprinted in to make a game-saving--at the time--lunging catch.

In all, Wohlers gave up six hits and three runs in two innings. Wohlers had appeared in 10 previous playoff series, and in only two of them had he given up more than three hits in the entire series.

“I felt good, even when they were spraying hits all over the park,” Wohlers said. “It was just one of those days where things didn’t go my way.”

Things went Bielecki’s way . . . and then some.

Bielecki, who was released by the Angels last winter and who was unemployed three weeks before the season, stifled a Yankee rally with three strikeouts in the sixth inning and added a hitless seventh, helping the Braves preserve a 6-3 lead.

The Yankees had scored three runs in the sixth and had runners on first and second with no outs when Bielecki replaced starter Denny Neagle. Bielecki struck out Duncan and pinch-hitters Paul O’Neill and Tino Martinez--Duncan and Martinez swinging and O’Neill looking at a fastball on the outside corner.

Bielecki added a scoreless seventh inning, his pitch count reaching 34 when Manager Bobby Cox pulled him in favor of Wohlers to start the eighth. Could Bielecki have gone another inning?

“It’s not my decision, but it was the right decision,” Bielecki said. “Mark can go two innings, and he throws 99 mph. Who else would you want out there? He’s one of the best closers in the league. But he’s also human.”

Bielecki looked almost super-human Wednesday night, which is hardly how he looked last year with the Angels. Bielecki went 4-6 with a 5.97 earned-run average in 1995, in 11 starts and 11 relief appearances.

Bielecki, a 36-year-old who has been released by two teams and cut loose by three others during his journeyman career, was all set to retire last March when the Braves, for whom he had already played twice, called to see if he’d like to compete for a middle relief spot.

He had spent much of the winter lifting weights at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., bulking up to 200 pounds, and he signed a minor league contract March 14. But even after making the opening-day roster, Bielecki was skeptical about his role.

“The 11th pitcher here is like the Maytag repairman,” Bielecki said. “No work.”

Wrong. Bielecki appeared in 40 games--five starts--and finished with a 4-3 record and 2.63 ERA. He has now appeared in six postseason games, giving up no hits in 6 2/3 innings.

“Who would have thunk it?” Bielecki said. “I went from having no job to pitching in the World Series, from the outhouse to the penthouse.”

It was Bielecki’s first World Series appearance, and he admitted being nervous.

“But I was under control,” he said. “I didn’t throw up or anything.”

He just made the Yankees look sick.