Infinite Cleveland

1997 World Series: Game 3
FLORIDA MARLINS @ CLEVELAND INDIANS
OCTOBER 21, 1997
TIMELINE 44
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Florida Marlins 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 4 10 15 1
Cleveland Indians 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 5 10 0
Assenmacher Collapse in Seventh Unravels Nagy's Gem; Florida Wins Game 3
For six innings Charles Nagy pitched as though this particular Tuesday night belonged entirely to him — seven strikeouts, just one run allowed, 105 pitches delivered with the economical precision of a man building something he expected to last. Cleveland led 4-1, which felt like more than enough on a rainy evening when the Marlins' bats had looked slow and uncertain against Nagy's sinker. Sandy Alomar Jr. had set the tone in the first inning with a two-run home run on the very first pitch he saw — 387 feet to left on a line, the ball leaving his bat at the same angle it would leave the park, with David Justice, who had reached on catcher's interference of all things, jogging home ahead of him.

Then the seventh inning arrived, and Paul Assenmacher arrived with it, and both proved catastrophic. Devon White walked on a full count. Craig Counsell lined a single to right. Jim Eisenreich singled to right-center to score White, and then Moises Alou — who had done nothing all evening — tripled to right field on a 1-1 pitch, the ball finding the gap and rolling to the wall while Counsell and Eisenreich both scored. Before anyone in the crowd of 44,880 could quite process the arithmetic, Alou himself came home on a wild pitch that skipped off the wet dirt past Alomar's glove. Five runs, a 6-4 lead for Florida, and the kind of silence in a ballpark that feels almost geological — as though the building itself had settled an inch into the earth.

Omar Vizquel's solo home run in the eighth — 385 feet to right, a fierce line drive off Jay Powell — pulled Cleveland within one and sent a murmur of hope through the upper deck. But in the ninth, Mike Jackson could find neither the strike zone nor his composure: Bonilla singled, Daulton doubled him home, Devon White doubled in two more, and Counsell singled in another for good measure. The final score read 10-5, and there was something almost instructive about this version of the evening — how six innings of dominance can be erased by one-third of an inning of chaos, how a three-run lead dissolves into nothing when the wrong arm enters the game at the wrong moment. In another arrangement of these same variables, Assenmacher retires the side and Nagy gets his win. In this one, the forty-fourth, the Marlins found the seam.
FLORIDA 1997 BATTING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
E. Renteria SS 6 1 2 0 0 3 3 .333 0 0
J. Eisenreich LF 5 1 3 2 0 2 1 .600 0 2
M. Alou DH 4 1 1 2 1 2 3 .250 0 2
G. Sheffield RF 4 1 0 0 1 0 3 .000 0 0
B. Bonilla 3B 4 1 2 0 1 1 0 .500 0 0
D. Daulton 1B 5 1 3 2 0 0 1 .600 0 2
C. Johnson C 4 1 1 0 1 2 4 .250 0 0
D. White CF 4 2 1 2 1 0 4 .250 0 2
C. Counsell 2B 5 1 2 1 0 1 0 .400 0 1
Totals 41 10 15 9 5 11 19
BATTING
Doubles: D. White (1, 9th Inning off M. Jackson, 2 on, 2 outs) E. Renteria (1, 1st Inning off C. Nagy, 0 on, 0 outs) J. Eisenreich (1, 3rd Inning off C. Nagy, 1 on, 1 out) D. Daulton (1, 9th Inning off M. Jackson, 1 on, 2 outs) B. Bonilla (1, 2nd Inning off C. Nagy, 0 on, 0 outs)
Triples: M. Alou (1, 7th Inning off P. Assenmacher, 2 on, 1 out)
Total Bases: D. White 2 , E. Renteria 3 , C. Johnson , J. Eisenreich 4 , D. Daulton 4 , C. Counsell 2 , B. Bonilla 3 , M. Alou 3
2-out RBI: D. White , D. Daulton , C. Counsell
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: , D. White 2 , G. Sheffield 2
GIDP: G. Sheffield
Team LOB: 9

FIELDING
Errors: C. Johnson
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
O. Vizquel SS 6 1 1 1 0 0 7 .167 1 1
B. Roberts LF 4 1 1 0 1 0 0 .250 0 0
D. Justice DH 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 .500 0 0
S. Alomar Jr C 4 2 2 3 1 0 1 .500 1 3
J. Thome 1B 2 0 1 0 3 1 1 .500 0 0
M. Ramirez RF 3 0 0 0 2 2 5 .000 0 0
T. Fernandez 2B 4 0 1 1 1 0 4 .250 0 1
M. Williams 3B 5 0 2 0 0 0 7 .400 0 0
M. Grissom CF 5 0 0 0 0 2 8 .000 0 0
Totals 37 5 10 5 8 5 34
BATTING
Doubles: B. Roberts (1, 3rd Inning off A. Leiter, 0 on, 0 outs)
Home Runs: S. Alomar Jr (1, 1st Inning off A. Leiter, 1 on, 2 outs) O. Vizquel (1, 8th Inning off J. Powell, 0 on, 0 outs)
Total Bases: S. Alomar Jr 5 , M. Williams 2 , O. Vizquel 4 , J. Thome , B. Roberts 2 , D. Justice 2 , T. Fernandez
2-out RBI: S. Alomar Jr
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: M. Williams , O. Vizquel 2
Team LOB: 13

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Vizquel-Fernandez-Thome)
FLORIDA 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
A. Leiter 4.0 5 4 4 5 3 1 103 51 9.00
F. Heredia 1.1 2 0 0 1 0 0 25 14 0.00
J. Powell W (1-0) 2.2 2 1 1 1 1 1 32 19 3.38
D. Cook 0.1 1 0 0 1 1 0 15 8 0.00
R. Nen SV (1) 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: A. Leiter 34
Batters Faced: A. Leiter 23, F. Heredia 7, J. Powell 11, D. Cook 3, R. Nen 2
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: A. Leiter 7-2, F. Heredia 3-1, J. Powell 4-3, D. Cook 0-0, R. Nen 1-1
Pitches - Strikes: A. Leiter 103-51, F. Heredia 25-14, J. Powell 32-19, D. Cook 15-8, R. Nen 3-3
Inherited Runners - Scored: F. Heredia 2-1 , J. Powell 1-0 , D. Cook 1-0 , R. Nen 3-0
WP: D. Cook
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
C. Nagy 6.0 7 1 1 0 7 0 105 69 1.50
P. Assenmacher L (0-1), BS (1) 0.1 3 5 5 2 0 0 22 12 135.00
E. Plunk 1.2 1 0 0 1 3 0 28 18 0.00
M. Jackson 0.2 4 4 4 2 0 0 30 13 54.00
A. Morman 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: C. Nagy 61
Batters Faced: C. Nagy 25, P. Assenmacher 6, E. Plunk 7, M. Jackson 7, A. Morman 1
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: C. Nagy 7-4, P. Assenmacher 1-0, E. Plunk 1-1, M. Jackson 1-0, A. Morman 0-0
Pitches - Strikes: C. Nagy 105-69, P. Assenmacher 22-12, E. Plunk 28-18, M. Jackson 30-13, A. Morman 3-3
Inherited Runners - Scored: E. Plunk 1-1 , A. Morman 1-0
WP: P. Assenmacher
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: 4:17
Attendance: 44,880