Infinite Cleveland

1997 World Series: Game 3
FLORIDA MARLINS @ CLEVELAND INDIANS
OCTOBER 21, 1997
TIMELINE 29
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Florida Marlins 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 10 3
Cleveland Indians 0 1 2 4 0 4 1 3 X 15 14 0
Cleveland Scores 15 Unanswered, Erase 4-0 Hole to Win Game 3
Florida led 4-1 after two innings — Bobby Bonilla's two-run triple to the right-field corner in the first, Moises Alou's two-RBI single to right in the second — and the Marlins carried the hubris of a team that believes it has broken the starting pitcher. Then the crack sealed itself, and what followed was not so much a comeback as an erasure. Fifteen unanswered runs across seven innings.

The Marlins — built for Miami's warmth, for the soft air of a southern October — stood in the Cleveland cold while the Indians batted around in the fourth and again in the sixth, nine men to the plate each time, the Florida fielders shifting their weight and blowing into their gloves while the wind cut through them at twenty-five miles an hour. Three errors came in sequence, each sloppier than the last, the kind of mistakes that arrive when fingers have gone numb and concentration has frozen over. Leiter was driven from the mound and three relievers were summoned in turn — Heredia, Powell, Saunders — each inheriting a mess and leaving a larger one. Tony Fernandez singled on the first pitch he saw in the third with the bases loaded, two runs scored, and from that moment the ballpark understood that whatever had gone wrong was now being set right.

The fourth inning finished Leiter. Omar Vizquel singled on the first pitch to start it, Bip Roberts singled him to third, David Justice fought through an eight-pitch at-bat to single home Vizquel, and then Sandy Alomar Jr reached on the second baseman's error to score Roberts. Jim Thome singled, Felix Heredia replaced Leiter, and Fernandez beat out an infield hit that scored Justice from third. Alomar tagged from third on Matt Williams's fly to center. Four runs, and the lineup had simply worn through the Florida staff like water through limestone — no single blow, just relentless, patient pressure until the thing gave way.

Sandy Alomar Jr drove the last nails: a solo home run to right in the seventh, 335 feet on the first pitch from Jay Powell, and a two-run double to left in the eighth that scored Vizquel and Justice and made it 15-4. By then the upper deck had gone quiet with the contented silence of a crowd that has nothing left to worry about, and the October sky above Jacobs Field had settled into the deep black of a night that could, in some other arrangement of the universe's cards, have gone quite differently. But not in this one.
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 0 0 0 0 .400 0 0
J. Eisenreich LF 4 1 2 0 1 0 2 .500 0 0
M. Alou DH 5 1 3 2 0 0 3 .600 0 2
G. Sheffield RF 4 0 0 0 0 1 6 .000 0 0
B. Bonilla 3B 4 0 1 2 0 1 1 .250 0 2
D. Daulton 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 0 0
C. Johnson C 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 0 0
D. White CF 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .250 0 0
C. Counsell 2B 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 .250 0 0
Totals 37 4 10 4 2 4 16
BATTING
Doubles: J. Eisenreich (1, 7th Inning off E. Plunk, 0 on, 1 out)
Triples: B. Bonilla (1, 1st Inning off C. Nagy, 2 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: D. White , E. Renteria 2 , J. Eisenreich 3 , C. Counsell , B. Bonilla 3 , M. Alou 3
2-out RBI: B. Bonilla , M. Alou
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: , G. Sheffield 2 , D. Daulton , M. Alou
Team LOB: 8

FIELDING
Errors: D. Daulton , C. Counsell , B. Bonilla
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
O. Vizquel SS 6 2 1 0 0 0 6 .167 0 0
B. Roberts LF 6 1 2 2 0 1 4 .333 0 2
D. Justice DH 5 2 2 2 1 1 2 .400 0 2
S. Alomar Jr C 4 3 2 4 1 1 1 .500 1 4
J. Thome 1B 4 2 1 0 2 1 3 .250 0 0
M. Ramirez RF 2 2 0 0 2 1 3 .000 0 0
T. Fernandez 2B 5 1 3 4 0 0 1 .600 0 4
M. Williams 3B 3 1 0 1 1 0 6 .000 0 1
M. Grissom CF 5 1 3 2 0 0 4 .600 0 2
Totals 40 15 14 15 7 5 30
BATTING
Doubles: S. Alomar Jr (1, 8th Inning off T. Saunders, 2 on, 2 outs)
Home Runs: S. Alomar Jr (1, 7th Inning off J. Powell, 0 on, 0 outs)
Total Bases: S. Alomar Jr 6 , O. Vizquel , J. Thome , B. Roberts 2 , D. Justice 2 , M. Grissom 3 , T. Fernandez 3
2-out RBI: S. Alomar Jr , B. Roberts , D. Justice
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: , J. Thome 2 , B. Roberts , D. Justice , M. Grissom 2
Sac Fly: M. Williams
Hit by Pitch: S. Alomar Jr , M. Ramirez
Team LOB: 11
FLORIDA 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
A. Leiter L (0-1) 3.0 6 7 6 4 2 0 98 54 18.00
F. Heredia 2.1 1 2 2 2 2 0 28 15 7.71
J. Powell 2.0 5 4 3 1 1 1 47 27 13.50
T. Saunders 0.2 2 2 0 0 0 0 15 10 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: A. Leiter 17
Batters Faced: A. Leiter 23, F. Heredia 10, J. Powell 12, T. Saunders 5
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: A. Leiter 3-4, F. Heredia 3-2, J. Powell 3-2, T. Saunders 0-2
Pitches - Strikes: A. Leiter 98-54, F. Heredia 28-15, J. Powell 47-27, T. Saunders 15-10
Inherited Runners - Scored: F. Heredia 3-2 , J. Powell 2-2 , T. Saunders 1-1
Hit Batsmen: A. Leiter 2
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
C. Nagy W (1-0) 5.0 7 4 4 1 2 0 100 59 7.20
E. Plunk H (1) 3.0 2 0 0 1 2 0 43 27 0.00
A. Morman 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 7 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: C. Nagy 38
Batters Faced: C. Nagy 23, E. Plunk 12, A. Morman 4
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: C. Nagy 5-8, E. Plunk 0-7, A. Morman 1-2
Pitches - Strikes: C. Nagy 100-59, E. Plunk 43-27, A. Morman 9-7
Inherited Runners - Scored: A. Morman 1-0
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Sandy Alomar Jr
Ballpark: Jacobs Field
Weather: Rainy (47 degrees F), 25 MPH wind (left to right)
Start Time: 8:24 PM EST
Time: 3:57
Attendance: 44,880