Infinite Cleveland

1997 World Series: Game 3
FLORIDA MARLINS @ CLEVELAND INDIANS
OCTOBER 21, 1997
TIMELINE 4
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Florida Marlins 0 5 0 2 1 2 0 0 1 11 14 0
Cleveland Indians 0 3 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 7 15 2
Back-to-Back Homers Fuel Marlins' Rout of Cleveland
Sometimes the deck shuffles itself into a slugfest. In the fourth iteration of this Tuesday night, Charles Nagy recorded three outs and gave up seven hits — including a three-run home run by Charles Johnson that cleared the left-field wall at 365 feet on the very first pitch of his at-bat, followed one batter later by Devon White's solo shot to nearly the same spot, 362 feet into the October rain, as if the ball had found a groove in the sky and simply followed the previous one home. Five runs, one inning, and Nagy's night was over before the crowd had finished settling into their seats.

Cleveland answered with the kind of fury that suggested this version of the game would not go quietly. Marquis Grissom launched a two-run homer to deep right-center in the bottom of the second — 389 feet, a line drive that rose as if offended by gravity — and in the third, Manny Ramirez ripped a single through the left side at 109 miles per hour to plate two more and tie the game at five. For a few minutes, with the rain coming sideways and the wind pushing everything toward right field, it felt like neither pitching staff would survive the evening.

They were correct to worry, though not equally. Florida kept scoring — Eisenreich's double in the fourth, a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and then Darren Daulton in the sixth, who drove a 2-0 fastball from Eric Plunk into the right-center bleachers at 417 feet with the kind of exit velocity that belongs to a younger man's swing, a two-run shot that pushed it to 10-6 and effectively ended things. Cleveland managed one more run in the seventh, Thome doubling and scoring on a Fernandez sacrifice fly, but by then the arithmetic had turned against them, the gap too wide, the bullpen too thin. Robb Nen retired the final two batters, and in this particular arrangement of the evening, it was Florida's turn to celebrate — one timeline among many, though no one on either side suspected as much.
FLORIDA 1997 BATTING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
E. Renteria SS 5 1 2 1 1 1 3 .400 0 1
J. Eisenreich DH 5 0 1 1 0 0 3 .200 0 1
B. Bonilla 3B 3 1 1 1 1 0 2 .333 0 1
G. Sheffield RF 4 1 1 0 1 1 4 .250 0 0
D. Daulton 1B 4 2 2 2 1 1 2 .500 1 2
C. Johnson C 5 2 2 3 0 0 0 .400 1 3
D. White CF 4 2 2 1 1 0 0 .500 1 1
C. Counsell 2B 5 1 2 0 0 0 3 .400 0 0
C. Floyd LF 2 1 1 2 1 0 3 .500 0 2
Totals 37 11 14 11 6 3 20
BATTING
Doubles: J. Eisenreich (1, 4th Inning off B. Anderson, 2 on, 1 out)
Home Runs: D. White (1, 2nd Inning off C. Nagy, 0 on, 0 outs) C. Johnson (1, 2nd Inning off C. Nagy, 2 on, 0 outs) D. Daulton (1, 6th Inning off E. Plunk, 1 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: D. White 5 , G. Sheffield , E. Renteria 2 , C. Johnson 5 , C. Floyd , J. Eisenreich 2 , D. Daulton 5 , C. Counsell 2 , B. Bonilla
2-out RBI: D. Daulton
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: G. Sheffield , E. Renteria , D. Daulton
GIDP: J. Eisenreich
Sac Fly: C. Floyd 2 , B. Bonilla
Team LOB: 8

BASERUNNING
SB: B. Bonilla (1)
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
O. Vizquel SS 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 .200 0 0
B. Roberts LF 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 .500 0 0
D. Justice DH 5 0 2 1 0 1 3 .400 0 1
S. Alomar Jr C 5 1 2 0 0 1 3 .400 0 0
J. Thome 1B 5 1 2 0 0 2 2 .400 0 0
M. Ramirez RF 4 0 3 2 1 0 0 .750 0 2
T. Fernandez 2B 4 1 1 1 0 0 5 .250 0 1
M. Williams 3B 5 1 1 1 0 0 5 .200 0 1
M. Grissom CF 4 1 1 2 0 0 2 .250 1 2
Totals 41 7 15 7 1 4 21
BATTING
Doubles: M. Williams (1, 2nd Inning off A. Leiter, 1 on, 2 outs) O. Vizquel (1, 4th Inning off D. Cook, 0 on, 1 out) J. Thome (1, 7th Inning off F. Heredia, 0 on, 0 outs)
Home Runs: M. Grissom (1, 2nd Inning off A. Leiter, 1 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: S. Alomar Jr 2 , M. Williams 2 , O. Vizquel 2 , J. Thome 3 , B. Roberts 2 , M. Ramirez 3 , D. Justice 2 , M. Grissom 4 , T. Fernandez
2-out RBI: M. Williams , D. Justice , M. Grissom
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: M. Williams , J. Thome
Sac Fly: T. Fernandez
Hit by Pitch: B. Roberts
Team LOB: 9

FIELDING
Errors: S. Alomar Jr , M. Ramirez
Double Plays: 1 (Fernandez-Vizquel-Thome)
FLORIDA 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
A. Leiter 2.1 7 5 5 0 1 1 52 32 19.29
D. Cook W (1-0) 3.0 4 1 1 1 1 0 42 26 3.00
F. Heredia 3.0 4 1 1 0 2 0 35 25 3.00
R. Nen 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: A. Leiter 20
Batters Faced: A. Leiter 15, D. Cook 14, F. Heredia 13, R. Nen 2
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: A. Leiter 2-4, D. Cook 6-2, F. Heredia 1-6, R. Nen 0-2
Pitches - Strikes: A. Leiter 52-32, D. Cook 42-26, F. Heredia 35-25, R. Nen 5-4
Inherited Runners - Scored: D. Cook 2-0 , F. Heredia 1-0 , R. Nen 1-0
Hit Batsmen: A. Leiter
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
C. Nagy 1.0 7 5 5 0 0 2 37 26 45.00
B. Anderson L (0-1) 4.0 4 3 3 3 2 0 78 45 6.75
E. Plunk 2.0 2 2 2 1 0 1 29 17 9.00
A. Morman 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 0 23 11 9.00
M. Jackson 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 18 10 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: C. Nagy 13
Batters Faced: C. Nagy 10, B. Anderson 18, E. Plunk 9, A. Morman 5, M. Jackson 4
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: C. Nagy 1-2, B. Anderson 4-5, E. Plunk 0-6, A. Morman 0-3, M. Jackson 1-1
Pitches - Strikes: C. Nagy 37-26, B. Anderson 78-45, E. Plunk 29-17, A. Morman 23-11, M. Jackson 18-10
Inherited Runners - Scored: B. Anderson 2-0 , A. Morman 1-0 , M. Jackson 2-1
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Darren Daulton
Ballpark: Jacobs Field
Weather: Rainy (47 degrees F), 25 MPH wind (left to right)
Start Time: 8:24 PM EST
Time: 4:07
Attendance: 44,880