It Gets Away From Orioles

One of baseball’s strangest post-season games had one of the most bizarre endings ever in the playoffs as the thrill-a-minute Cleveland Indians surged ahead in the American League championship series.

On an afternoon and evening of numerous missed chances, Marquis Grissom scored on Lenny Webster’s passed ball as Omar Vizquel botched a squeeze bunt in the 12th inning, giving the Indians a 2-1 victory over Baltimore.

The Indians, who took a 2-1 lead in the series, overcame a record-setting 15 strikeout performance by Mike Mussina and a variety of miscues in the field and on the basepaths. The teams used a league championship record 13 pitchers and the game lasted 4 hours, 51 minutes--the longest by time in league championship history--but few seats were empty when the winning run crossed the plate.

Grissom led off the 12th with a walk off loser Randy Myers and took third on a single by Tony Fernandez. Vizquel tried to bunt on a 2-1 count, but missed and the ball bounced off Webster’s glove as Grissom scooted home.

“It looked to me like he fouled it off,” Oriole Manager Davey Johnson said. “Webby didn’t even go after it.”

Johnson argued with home plate umpire John Hirschbeck, the same umpire who was spit upon by Baltimore’s Roberto Alomar last year. Johnson wanted Hirschbeck to ask the second-base umpire for his opinion, but Hirschbeck declined.

“I told him I thought the object was to get it right,” Johnson said.

Mussina’s strikeout total set an LCS record and was the most in the postseason since Bob Gibson struck out 17 in the opener of the 1968 World Series. Mussina gave up three hits and a run in seven innings, yet that was only a memory by the time Grissom crossed the plate.

Eric Plunk got the win by retiring the final two batters in the top half.

Down, 1-0, the Orioles used two inconceivable breaks to pull even in the ninth. After Chris Hoiles led off with a single, pinch-runner Jeff Reboulet appeared doomed when pinch-hitter Jeffrey Hammonds hit a grounder to second.

Tony Fernandez fielded the slow roller and opted to throw out the speedy Hammonds as Reboulet hit the ground at the second baseman’s feet. Reboulet reached second when the return throw from first baseman Jim Thome hit his outstretched left arm.

Brady Anderson, who earlier misread a looper to center field, then hit a routine fly to center that Grissom lost in the lights. The ball fell behind him for a double and Reboulet came in with the tying run.

Grissom, who won Game 2 with a three-run homer, also struck out four times before his walk in the 12th.

In the bottom of the ninth, Manny Ramirez got picked off first base and the Indians followed with a walk and a single. But with two outs Sandy Alomar was called out at first by umpire Durwood Merrill on a grounder, although replays indicated Alomar beat the throw.

The Orioles loaded the bases with two outs in the 11th before Alvin Morman came in to strike out Rafael Palmeiro, who stranded six and struck out four times.

In their half, the Indians got a runner on third with no outs before Myers struck out Alomar with the bases loaded and two outs.

The Indians, held to one hit while being struck out 14 times by Mussina in the first six innings, got an RBI single from Matt Williams in the seventh to go up 1-0.

That appeared to be enough offense on a day when pitching ruled. But the wacky ninth inning set the stage for another thrilling Cleveland victory.

A homer by Alomar helped the Indians rally to win Game 4 of the division series against the New York Yankees, and Cleveland won the dramatic clincher one night later. The Indians then used Grissom’s homer in Game 2 of this series to rally from a 4-2 deficit.

Mussina broke the LCS strikeout record of 14, held by four pitchers, when he got Ramirez to open the seventh. After that, though, things unraveled quickly for the right-hander.

Thome walked and David Justice hit a blooper to center that Anderson got a late jump on and had to field on one hop. Williams then bounced a single up the middle, barely out of the reach of shortstop Mike Bordick, scoring Thome.

Mussina was overwhelming in his first start since twice outdueling Seattle ace Randy Johnson in the AL division series. Cleveland starter Orel Hirshiser couldn’t keep pace with Mussina’s strikeout total, but he put up enough zeros to keep the Indians in the game, giving up four hits and striking out seven in seven scoreless innings.

Hershiser allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in the third through sixth innings, but the Indians got a double play on each occasion. The four double plays tied an ALCS record.

Mussina started the game by striking out the side on 14 pitches. He added another strikeout in the second and struck out the side in the third.

Mussina struck out the side again in the sixth, getting both Bip Roberts and Vizquel for the third time. After Roberts missed a high fastball for strike three, he flung his bat and whipped his helmet toward the screen behind the plate.

Even as Mussina was striking out one Cleveland hitter after the next, the Orioles must have sensed trouble when they had four consecutive innings sabotaged by double plays.

It wasn’t supposed to be this tough for the team with baseball’s best record during the regular season. The euphoria of winning the AL East grew after a surprisingly easy series victory over the Mariners in the first round.

That confidence was boosted by a Game 1 shutout and had many thinking the Orioles would sweep right past the Indians and into the World Series.

Now, Baltimore has to hope that Scott Erickson can duplicate his eight shutout innings in the opener today. And Baltimore has to figure out a way to rattle Cleveland rookie sensation Jaret Wright in Game 4.

* ROSS NEWHAN: C13