Indians' Win Is Wright Nice to Even Series

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Oct. 23, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CLEVELAND —

Cleveland Indian rookie Jaret Wright, who grew up amid the palm trees and warm ocean breezes of Anaheim, turned the Fall Classic into his own Winter Wonderland Wednesday night.

The 21-year-old right-hander, three years removed from Katella High and five months removed from double-A Akron, gave up only three runs in six innings in frosty conditions Wednesday night, as the Indians beat the Florida Marlins, 10-3, in Game 4 of the World Series.

The game-time temperature was 38 degrees, the lowest on record for a World Series game, with a windchill of 18, and there were intermittent snow flurries throughout.

But Wright warmed the hearts of 44,877 Jacobs Field fans, helping Cleveland even the series at two games apiece and assuring a return to Miami for Game 6 Saturday night.

He wasn’t at his finest--the son of former Angel pitcher Clyde Wright constantly fell behind hitters and walked five--but he struck out five and gave up only six hits before yielding to reliever Brian Anderson, the former Angel who threw three scoreless innings for the save.

Wright said he had never pitched in colder conditions, but the kid had an arctic blast, improving to 9-0 in 13 starts after an Indian loss and becoming the first rookie to win three games in a single postseason since the Dodgers’ Tim Belcher in 1988.

“This was my dream, it was a lot of kids’ dream, I got to do it, and we won,” said Wright, who gave up a run-scoring single to Jim Eisenreich in the fourth inning and a two-run homer to Moises Alou in the sixth. “I can’t even feel my feet right now.

“I’ve been thinking about this for 21 years. When you’re playing in the sandlots, this is on your mind . . . I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like this off-season. I’m just going to sit on the couch and think about how awesome this season has been.”

Wright admitted being nervous--”If you don’t get butterflies, you’re not human,” he said--but a 6-0 lead, built on the Indians’ three-run first inning and three-run third, helped settle his stomach.

Manny Ramirez and Matt Williams provided two-run homers, Ramirez with his shot in the first and Williams with a two-run blast in the eighth, and Sandy Alomar added three hits and three RBIs to lead the Indians’ 15-hit attack. Wright made it stand up with the help of two double plays, one to end the first inning and one to end the sixth.

“I didn’t see any signs of nerves, other than mine,” Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove said of Wright. “I have not seen Jaret intimidated by anything. He is one of those special people who can mask his emotions. You’ve seen that commercial with Dan Reeves--don’t let ‘em see you sweat--he’s real good at that.”

It seems almost unfathomable that a 21-year-old can perform so well under such pressure--had the Indians lost they would have been doomed in this series. But playoff heroics are becoming routine for Wright.

He won Game 2 of the division series against the New York Yankees in the hostile confines of Yankee Stadium and came back to win the decisive Game 5 of that series. He got roughed up in his only American League championship series start against the Baltimore Orioles but atoned for that Wednesday night.

“I think the biggest boost for him was the game he pitched against the Yankees in New York,” Hargrove said. “We took a gamble running him out there, we believed in his stuff, and he proved us right.”

Wright wasn’t the only rookie on the mound Wednesday--he was opposed by Marlin left-hander Tony Saunders, only the sixth time in World Series history two rookie starters have faced each other.

But Saunders didn’t make it out of the third. Williams’ slide to elude catcher Charles Johnson’s tag on Alomar’s RBI double capped the first inning, and two Marlin errors--by Saunders and shortstop Edgar Renteria--aided Cleveland’s three-run third, which included RBI singles by Alomar and Tony Fernandez.

The Marlins trimmed the lead to 6-3 on Alou’s homer, but the Indians added two crucial insurance runs on Alomar’s RBI fielder’s choice in the sixth and Brian Giles’ RBI single in the seventh, and Williams put the game out of reach in the eighth.

Unlike Game 3, when the teams combined for 17 walks and six errors, the weather wasn’t as much of a factor Wednesday night. But it made for a surreal scene two hours before the game: Amid a steady snowfall, the familiar summer sounds of batting practice were accompanied by Christmas carols and the Indians wore wool hats instead of batting helmets.

“Now this,” Marlin third-base coach Rich Donnelly said, “is true winter ball.”

There was never any doubt the game would be played, though. Acting Commissioner Bud Selig said he didn’t think temperatures reached a point to where baseball officials would consider a postponement.

“The forecast doesn’t look any better for the next few days,” Selig said. “There’s no sense making the clubs sit around. They don’t want to do that, and neither do we.”

And neither did Wright.

“I’m just going to go home and try to take all this in,” Wright said. “It’s almost overwhelming.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CLEVELAND vs. FLORIDA

TV: Channel 4

Series tied, 2-2

Game 1: Florida 7, Cleveland 4

Game 2: Cleveland 6, Florida 1

Game 3: Florida 14, Cleveland 11

Game 4: Cleveland 10, Florida 3

Tonight: at Cleveland, 5:15 p.m.

Saturday: at Florida, 5 p.m.