It Wasn’t Big Inning of End for Hernandez

It was exactly the kind of predicament you would expect a 22-year-old pitching his first World Series game to melt in, but for this Florida Marlin rookie, it provided a chance to carve another plank in the Livan-Hernandez-for-Savior campaign.

The situation: Runners on first and third with one out in the top of the third inning of Game 1 Saturday night, the Cleveland Indians threatening to add to a 1-0 lead with David Justice and Matt Williams coming up against Hernandez and a Pro Player Stadium crowd of 67,245 beginning to squirm.

The stakes: Indian starter Orel Hershiser said it Friday--give a young pitcher a few easy innings in his first World Series game and those rookie jitters disappear; get to him early, and you can turn him into chum.

With Marlin ace Kevin Brown scheduled to start Game 2, this was exactly what the Indians were hoping for, a chance to break open the game and assure themselves of a split heading back to Cleveland.

The outcome: Not good for the Indians. Bip Roberts had led off the inning with his second double of the game, Omar Vizquel moved him to third with a fly ball to right and Manny Ramirez walked.

Justice, whose RBI single gave Cleveland a first-inning lead, got ahead on the count, 2 and 0, and Hernandez left a fastball a bit over the plate. But Justice hit a fly to left that was not deep enough for Roberts to tag.

“It was a hair up,” Justice said of the pitch. “If it was down a bit, I felt I would have crushed that ball.”

Williams then tried to check his swing on a 1-2 pitch but was punched out by first-base umpire Dale Ford, a call that was met with no resistance. Williams dropped his bat and helmet and Hernandez walked to the dugout, his confidence soaring.

“That helps a pitcher a lot when he can get out of a jam like that,” Hernandez said. “That really helped me for the next inning.”

The bottom line: The Marlins scored the tying run in the bottom of the third on Edgar Renteria’s RBI groundout and took a commanding lead with their four-run fourth, which included home runs by Moises Alou and Charles Johnson. Final score--Marlins 7, Indians 4.

Hernandez was hardly dominating, giving up three runs and eight hits, including homers by Ramirez and Jim Thome, in 5 2/3 innings. He had only five strikeouts, but by avoiding potential disaster in the third, he gave his team a chance to win--and himself a chance to become the youngest pitcher to win a World Series opener.

“I don’t think he’ll allow himself to crumble,” Marlin pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “He was tough-minded tonight. He knew he didn’t have good command or feel for his curve, but he knew he had to get us the innings he did. Tonight showed as much about him as any other night.”

The last word: Hernandez, a Cuban refugee who does not speak English, was steaming when Manager Jim Leyland pulled him in the sixth, hurling his glove and hat into the dugout and kicking a medicine chest. Turns out he wasn’t mad at Leyland.

“I was mad at myself,” Hernandez said, “because I got behind too many batters.”

What about the conversation between Leyland and Hernandez on the mound?

“Fortunately,” Leyland said, “we don’t understand each other.”