Indians Remain in Wild-Card Race

Nothing has been simple for the Cleveland Indians this season. It didn’t start that way, and it won’t end that way, either.

Chuck Finley got his sixth win in September and Roberto Alomar hit a disputed home run as the Indians kept the pressure on Seattle and Oakland in the AL wild-card race, holding on for a 6-5 victory Saturday over the Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland.

“Nobody said it was going to be easy, did they?” Indian Manager Charlie Manuel.

Manny Ramirez also homered for the Indians.

The Indians start their must-win game today three hours before the Athletics and Mariners start their games. There are several scenarios that could extend the wild-card chase to Tuesday.

“We’ve given ourselves a chance and that’s about all you can ask for,” said Alomar. “We need some help, but hopefully everything’s going to work out.”

Cleveland, which coasted into the postseason the past five years, will now play a 162nd game that could lead to a sixth consecutive trip to the playoffs. But to stay alive in the playoff picture, they’ll have to beat Toronto’s David Wells today.

Wells, a longtime Indian nemesis, is 17-3--including 4-0 in the post-season--with a 3.08 ERA in his career against Cleveland. He’s 2-0 with 0.53 ERA in 17 innings against the Indians this year.

“Bring him on,” Manuel said.

The Indians nearly blew a pair of three-run leads for Finley (16-11) and used four relievers to get out of the eighth alone when Toronto scored twice to close to 6-5.

With the tying run at second and two outs, Cameron Cairncross got Darrin Fletcher to ground out to first.

Bob Wickman, the Indians’ seventh pitcher, worked the ninth for his 14th save.

Baltimore 9, New York 1--Mike Mussina, pitching what could be his final game with the Orioles, turned in a solid performance as Baltimore beat David Cone and the slumping Yankees at Baltimore.

Derek Jeter got his 200 and 201st hits for the Yankees, who have lost six in a row and 14 of 17. The Yankees have been outscored, 44-7, in their last four games.

Mussina (11-15) gave up one run, six hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven.

Mussina finished with 210 strikeouts and a 3.79 earned-run average.

Cone (4-14) gave up six runs, eight hits and three walks in four-plus innings.

Chicago 9, Kansas City 1--Rookies Kip Wells and Jon Garland, hoping to earn spots in the playoff rotation or bullpen, combined to pitch eight strong innings for the White Sox at Chicago.

Jose Valentin hit two homers, one from each side of the plate, and Paul Konerko added a solo shot for the White Sox.

Boston 4, Tampa Bay 2--Morgan Burkhart of the Red Sox hit a two-out, two-run homer against Roberto Hernandez in the ninth inning at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Fred McGriff gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead with his 27th homer. McGriff has 105 runs batted in, one more than the team record he set last season.

Detroit 6, Minnesota 5--Dean Palmer’s single scored the winning run in the 11th inning at Detroit.