1995 ALCS: The Indians Push Past The Mariners
The Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners had histories that were both very different and yet quite the same. The Indians were one of baseball’s oldest franchise. The Mariners, founded in the late 1970s, were a comparative newbie. But when it came to be strangers to October, they had a lot in common. Prior to 1995, Seattle had never made the playoffs. Cleveland hadn’t been here since reaching the World Series in 1954. At the 1995 ALCS, the Indians and Mariners squared off for the pennant.
You can read more about each team’s season-long journeys, their key players and their Division Series triumphs at the links below. This article will focus squarely on the games of the 1995 ALCS.
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1995 CLEVELAND INDIANS
READ ABOUT THE 1995 SEATTLE MARINERS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1995 ALDS
Major League Baseball used a rotation system to determine homefield advantage. Thus, even though Cleveland had baseball’s best record in 1995, this ALCS would open with two games in Seattle.
Tuesday, October 10
Mariner pitching was gassed. They had been pushed to the limit in their Division Series battle against the New York Yankees. As a result, the Game 1 start went to 21-year-old Bob Wolcott, who had just six prior starts. He was paired up against Cleveland ace Dennis Martinez.
Wolcott was obviously jittery and he walked the first three men he faced. Then the young pitcher completely turned around. He struck out Albert Belle, got Eddie Murray to pop out and retired Jim Thome to kill the threat. In the second inning, the Indians put two runners aboard but did not score.
Seattle struck in the bottom of the second. Following a walk, Mike Blowers hit a two-run blast. Cleveland responded by filling up the basepaths again in the top of the third. Carlos Baerga led off with a single. Albert Belle walked. Thome’s one-out single scored the Tribe’s first run. Manny Ramirez singled to load the bases.
Then Wolcott again worked some magic, getting Paul Sorrento to hit it on the ground to shortstop for an inning-ending double play. Through three innings, Cleveland had left eight runners stranded and trailed 2-1.
Both Martinez and Wolcott started to settle in through the middle innings and the 2-1 score held. Until Belle tied the game in the top of the seventh with a solo blast.
The Mariners immediately responded in their half of the seventh. Jay Buhner doubled with one out. That was followed by an error and a Luis Sojo double. It was 3-2, there were runners on second and third and still just one out. Julian Tavarez came out of the Cleveland bullpen. He got Dan Wilson to tap one back to the mound and hold the runners in place and escaped the jam.
Seattle had another chance to take out some insurance in the eighth when they loaded the bases with one out. Indian manager Mike Hargrove emptied out his bullpen to try and keep the game close, going from Tavarez to lefty Paul Assenmacher to righty Eric Plunk to get the right matchups. It worked. The score stayed 3-2.
But the potent Cleveland bats couldn’t deliver. Mariner closer Norm Charlton got the last four outs and preserved the 3-2 win. Seattle had stolen a game where the pitching matchups decidedly worked against them and gotten a leg up in the series.
Wednesday, October 11
Orel Hershiser had been a postseason hero for the Dodgers in 1988. The proud veteran had pitched well for Cleveland this season, including in the Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. Now, the Indians turned to Orel for a Game 2 they really needed. He matched up against Seattle’s Tim Belcher.
Both pitchers were mostly comfortable through four scoreless innings. The Indians got something going against Belcher in the fifth. Manny singled to start the frame. With two outs, Kenny Lofton singled. Omar Vizquel worked a walk to load up the bases. Baerga singled to center, and it was 2-0 Tribe.
Manny kept hitting in the sixth, with a two-out solo blast to extend the lead. Sorrento singled. Sandy Alomar tripled. It was 4-0 and the Mariners were forced into their bullpen.
Seattle finally touched Hershiser in the bottom of the sixth when Ken Griffey Jr. hit a solo home run. But Cleveland kept coming. The Indians missed a chance in the seventh when Thome grounded into a bases-loaded double play. But Manny hit his second bomb of the night in the eighth to make it 5-1.
Hershiser worked eight brilliant innings. Jose Mesa came and cleaned up the ninth, allowing a solo shot to Buhner, but otherwise wrapping up the 5-2 win. This ALCS was tied at a game apiece going back to Cleveland.
Friday, October 13
Seattle’s mad dash to the end of the regular season and their long Division Series meant that ace Randy Johnson couldn’t go until Game 3. The Big Unit faced off with Cleveland’s Charles Nagy.
After missing a chance in the first inning, the Mariners got on the board in the second behind Buhner’s solo shot. In the top of the third, Griffey manufactured a run with help from the Tribe defense. With two outs, he singled, stole second, took third on the errant throw and then scored on another error.
It was 2-0 Seattle and Johnson was perfect through three. Cleveland cut the lead in half in the fourth when Lofton tripled and Vizquel picked him up with a sac fly. For the next several innings, Nagy and Johnson were both firmly settled in and it was still 2-1 when the Indians came to bat in the bottom of the eighth.
With one out, Buhner committed a defensive miscue in right that put the tying run on second base. Lofton made the error hurt with a base hit that tied the game. Johnson, along with Nagy, gave way to the bullpens as we went to the ninth tied 2-2.
It was a battle of closers, Charlton and Mesa, and the 2-2 tie held through ten. Tavarez came out of the Indian pen. Mariner manager Lou Piniella stayed with Charlton.
In the top of the 11th, Joey Cora led off with a single. Assenmacher came on in relief to get the lefthanded hitting Griffey. Hargrove continued to play matchups, going to Plunk for the righthanded bats. Plunk got Edgar Martinez. Cora stole second to put some pressure on. After an intentional walk to left-handed bat Tino Martinez, Buhner came to the plate.
Buhner’s mark, both good and bad, was already on this game. It was fitting that he delivered the decisive blow, with a three-run blast. Charlton closed it out, completing three hitless innings. Seattle’s upset bid was very much alive with the 5-2 win.
Saturday, October 14
Ken Hill had been a trade deadline acquisition for Cleveland and pitched well down the stretch. Now, in Game 4, he bore the pressure of a virtual must-win game under the lights at Jacobs Field. Seattle gave the ball to Andy Benes to try and put a stranglehold on the series.
The Indians wasted no time in getting after Benes and alleviating some pressure. Lofton led off the bottom of the first with a single. He promptly stole second and went to third on the resulting throwing error. After a walk, Baerga’s productive out put the Tribe on the board. Murray followed with a home run. Hill was staked to a 3-0 lead.
Tony Pena led off the Cleveland second with a single. With some aggressive baserunning, Pena not only took second on an ensuing groundball out, he made it all the way to third. From there, he could score on Lofton’s sac fly. It was 4-0.
The Indians didn’t let up in the third, when Thome followed a Baerga single with a home run to make it 6-0 and send Benes to an early shower.
In the meantime, Hill was cruising through the Seattle lineup. He worked seven inning, allowed just five hits and the Mariners never seriously threatened. Cleveland tacked on another run in the seventh and rolled home to an easy 7-0 win that tied the series.
Sunday, October 15
The Indians opted to go with Hershiser on three days’ rest for Sunday night’s fifth game. The Mariners turned to a rested Chris Bosio. And both pitches were sharp.
Bosio’s defense let him down in the bottom of the first, when an error opened the door to the game’s first run, as Baerga and Murray followed the miscue with base hits. Seattle got the run back in the top of the third. Cora worked a one-out walk and stole second. The stolen base proved big when Griffey’s fly ball down the leftfield line hopped into the stands for a ground-rule double to tie the game.
The 1-1 tie held into the fifth. Cora singled with two outs. Then Belle’s error in leftfield allowed Cora to come around with the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the sixth, Cleveland returned fire. Murray doubled with one out. Thome homered. The Indians had a 3-2 lead and Bosio was out.
Hershiser continued to pitch well and held the lead. Cleveland had a chance to break it open in the seventh when they loaded the bases with one out. Bill Risley came out of the Mariner pen to strike out Thome, retire Manny and keep it a 3-2 game.
Plunk was on in relief of Orel in the eighth and pitched himself into trouble with a couple of walks. A line drive off the bat of Luis Sojo was well-placed though. It went right at Vizqeul, who doubled a runner off. Mesa came on to wrap it up in the ninth. The Indians won the game 3-2 and led the ALCS by the same margin.
Tuesday, October 16
With their season on the line, the Mariners went back to Randy Johnson on three days’ rest as the series returned to old Seattle Kingdome. Dennis Martinez, well-rested since his Game 1 start, would try and win Cleveland’s first pennant in 41 years.
A pitcher’s duel ensued. Martinez pitched around a leadoff double by Sojo in the third. That was the closest thing to a threat either team mounted for the first four innings. In the fifth, the Mariner defense faltered. A two-base throwing error by Cora nudged the door open, and Lofton’s two-out single put the Tribe on the board.
Vince Coleman led off the Seattle sixth with a base hit and promptly stole second to get himself in scoring position. Cora was called on to get a bunt down, but he popped up the bunt. Martinez was able to escape with the 1-0 lead intact.
The tension kept building as Martinez and Johnson dueled. In the top of the eighth, Pena led off with a double. Lofton was called to put a bunt down. He not only succeeded, he beat it out. There were runners on the corners with no outs.
Lofton stole second to put more pressure on Johnson. Then came another defensive miscue—a passed ball scored not just one run, but two. It was 3-0 and Cleveland could smell the finish line. Baerga homered to make it 4-0 and end Johnson’s night.
It also effectively ended Seattle’s special season. Mesa came on for the ninth. There was no drama. Buhner’s ground ball to third ended the game and the Indians could celebrate.
THE AFTERMATH
Hershiser was named the 1995 ALCS MVP. It was a deserved choice, with his two dominant starts, each in enormous spots. Lofton and Baerga also had strong performances, and each would have been MVP-worthy in different circumstances. Lofton went 11-for-24 and stole five bases. Baerga went 10-for-25. Each player was present at key threshold points in the series.
Buhner went 7-for-23 with three home runs for Seattle, while Griffey collected seven hits of his own. The problem is that Griffey’s numbers were comparatively quiet. And that was in large part because Cleveland’s underrated pitching staff shut everyone around these two hitters down.
Cora and Coleman, the table-setters of the Mariner lineup combined to go 6-for-43. Tino Martinez and Edgar Martinez, key power contributors, combined to go 5-for-45. That’s why Seattle couldn’t sustain their early momentum, in spite of two excellent starts from Johnson and exceptional relief work from Charlton.
Cleveland’s bid for a World Series title ultimately fell short, as they lost in six game to the Atlanta Braves. Neither the Indians or Mariners were going anywhere and both would be back in this round sooner rather than later. Cleveland won another pennant in ’97 and reached the ALCS in 1998. Seattle returned to the playoffs in 1997 and went to the ALCS in 2000 and 2001.