Key Provides Some Heroics but in a Very Unusual Role

He won World Series rings with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Now, with a chance to win a third ring with a third team, he had been removed from the Baltimore Orioles rotation.

“A bitter pill to swallow,” Jimmy Key said Monday night, when the taste turned a little sweeter but Key remained a little bitter.

The Orioles defeated the Cleveland Indians, 4-2, to stay alive in the American League’s championship series. They are still down, 3-2, in the best-of-seven series but they are going home, and Manager Davey Johnson said, “you know Cleveland didn’t want to go back to our place.”

There were no miracles for the Indians in this one. No two runs scoring on a wild pitch. No failed squeeze play producing the decisive run.

They may have been in trouble when Johnson posted his lineup with Chris Hoiles behind the plate instead of a shell-shocked Lenny Webster.

This was going to be Key’s second start of the series, but he was removed from the rotation after four inconsistent innings in Game 2 only perpetuated a disappointing second half.

Scott Kamieniecki, the Orioles No. 4 starter during the regular season, made his first start since Sept. 24 and shut out the Indians for five innings before his elbow tightened, forcing Johnson to dial a strung out bullpen.

In came Key, making his first relief appearance since Game 6 of the 1992 World Series, while a member of the Blue Jays.

Relief, indeed.

The 35-year-old left-hander pitched three shutout and hitless innings, striking out three, walking only one, and taking the Orioles to the ninth and a nervous save by Randy Myers, who allowed four hits and the two Cleveland runs before silencing a Jacobs Field crowd of 45,068, which had come to expect magic.

Redemption for Key?

“Maybe for some of the guys with [note] pads who had written me off, but not for me,” he said.

“I haven’t been as sharp as I had been in the first half, but I haven’t been as bad as everybody had made it seemed.

“I mean, pitchers live and die with their numbers and my numbers hadn’t been good recently, but that’s not the whole story.

“The way people talked about me I was made to feel that I was two and 20, and I think I pitched pretty well overall.

“Is that annoying? Yes, it’s annoying.”

Key was 16-10 with a 3.34 earned-run average in his first season with the Orioles, trading places with David Wells, who went to New York as a free agent while Key went to Baltimore with a two-year, $7.8 million contract.

He won his first eight decisions, was 11-1 with a 2.47 ERA in his first 14 starts, but then went 5.9 with a 4.15 ERA over his last 20.

Reduced support played into it, as did a sudden lack of control by a control specialist. He worked 212 1/3 innings, his most since 1993 and easily the most since rotator surgery in 1995. Some believe it took a toll.

A losing effort in Game 3 of the division series with Seattle underscored Oriole concern, and the aborted start against the Indians in Game 2 resulted in his unaccustomed bullpen seat.

Asked if he felt the manager showed renewed confidence by bringing him into a game the Orioles led only 2-0, Key said:

“I think it was only a numbers thing. There was no one else. If he had confidence in me, he wouldn’t have taken me out of the rotation.”

Johnson wouldn’t get into that debate.

“I’ll roll that dice every time,” the manager said of his willingness to use the esteemed but demoted veteran. “He made a lot of good pitches tonight.

“Everything was a little sharper. He hit his spots on the inside and outside of the plate.”

Key has to live on the edge. He doesn’t overpower people. He built a 180-114 record with finesse.

Johnson didn’t finesse it. He had used 11 pitchers in the Game 3 and Game 4 losses here, and he told Key to report to the bullpen before Monday night’s game.

“I was hoping not to pitch,” Key said. “I figured that if I had to pitch it would mean Kamy hadn’t done well and we’d be in trouble.”

Given Kamieniecki’s five shutout innings, Key said, “I was shocked to get the call. I didn’t know he was hurt. It was a weird situation. I’ve never had to come in and [take his full warmups] on the mound.

“I felt like I was delaying the game. People wanted to see baseball and I was out there in the middle of the diamond holding everything up.”

It moved quickly after that, however, and Key said, “that was more of the pitcher you saw in my first 15 starts. It was very satisfying to contribute, to help us win, to give us another chance.

“I was disappointing down the stretch, I can admit that, and given my success over the years it was very tough to come out of the rotation, but I never lost confidence in myself. I know I can get people out. This was an unusual situation. My confidence helped me get through it.”

The Orioles will come back to Mike Mussina in Game 6 and Scott Erickson in Game 7, if they get there, both on three days rest. Key provided his new bullpen associates with some needed rest and may have enhanced his candidacy to return to the rotation if the Orioles reach the World Series.

The pill was still bitter, but he could digest it, at least.