Series VII Featured Matchup: Ottawa Mounties @ Cleveland Spiders
Series preview
here.
April 26: Game 1 - Roy Halladay v Cy Young
A topsy-turvy game featuring two hurlers struggling to live up to their high expectations.
Things started rough for
Cy Young, as he allowed 2 runs with 2 outs in the top of the first on consecutive doubles by
Larry Walker and
Phil Bradley, and an RBI single by
Emil Gross.
Cleveland's
Rowland Office--just back from a stint on the DL--tied it up in the bottom of the 2nd with a 2-run HR off Halladay, and the Spiders took the lead an inning later on an RBI triple from
Louis Santop, who scored on a groundout by
John Ellis giving Cleveland a 4-2 edge.
But Young was far from his best, giving up a double to Gross and a single to
Freddy Parent to start the 4th inning. Gross would score when Santop's throw to 2B on Parent's steal attempt sailed into the OF.
In the top of the 5th,
Anthony Rendon led off against Young with a double, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to third. That seemed to settle Young down for a few innings, and the game remained 4-3 in favor of Cleveland until the bottom of the 6th, when Halladay surrendered another HR to Office, this one a 3-run shot to extend the Spiders' advantage to 7-3.
Young would give up a 2-run HR to Walker in the top of the 7th, making it 7-5, and would finally be chased from the contest after walking Gross with 1 out in the 8th.
Chuck Porter relieved Young, and promptly walked Parent and gave up a 2-run triple to
Terry Puhl, tying the game at 7.
Cleveland would respond in the bottom of the 8th when, with 2 outs,
Chuck Knoblauch singled and stole second.
Larry Doby, mired in a horrible slump, delivered a pinch-hit single to score Knoblauch, and
Terry Adams got the final 3 outs, preserving the win for the Spiders.
The Spiders were led by Office, who ended the game 3-for-4 with 5 RBI's and Santop, who raised his BA to an even .300 with a 4-for-4 performance.
For Ottawa, Walker, Gross, and Parent had 2 hits each.
OTT 7 (M. Dubiel 1-2) @
CLE 8 (C. Porter 2-2, 2 BS; T. Adams 5 Sv)
HRs: OTT - L. Walker (4); CLE - R. Office 2 (2)
Box Score
April 27: Game Two - Rained Out
Game two of the series was rained out, rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on April 28th.
April 28: Game Two - Old Hoss Radbourn @ Whit Wyatt
Whit Wyatt rolled into the early game of the doubleheader with an ERA under 2 and looking like a contender for the
Brock Rutherford Award. Then Ottawa sent 8 batters to the plate, scoring 3 runs with RBIs from
Carlos Delgado,
Freddy Parent, and
Gary Carter.
John Ellis would get one back for Cleveland, doubling home
Johnny Bates in the bottom of the first, but Ottawa's
Old Hoss Radbourn had his full repertoire working.
Wyatt, in contrast, continued to struggle: an RBI single by Parent added a run in the top of the 2nd and
Tim Raines added a 2-run HR in the top of the 3rd, pushing the lead to 6-1.
Radbourn couldn't solve Ellis, who lashed a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 3rd, halving Ottawa's lead to 6-3, and, in the bottom of the 5th, a sacrifice fly from
Ron Blomberg made it a 2 run game, 6-4.
Larry Walker had to leave the game after Blomberg's sac fly--if he is forced back to the DL, that's a major hit to the Mounties.
Radbourn hit his stride, and Wyatt's replacement,
Stan Coveleski, matched him frame for frame--a great job, given how wrecked the Spiders' bullpen could have been with another game to play on the day.
But Ottawa jumped on
Chad Qualls, who replaced Coveleski in the top of the 9th, for 2 more runs on an
Anthony Rendon double and a sacrifice fly from Delgado.
So we went to the bottom of the 9th with Ottawa holding what looked like a comfortable 4 run lead, 8-4.
An error by Delgado let pinch-hitter
Peanuts Lowrey reach first base to start the inning, and after a groundout by
Chuck Knoblauch,
Jake Stahl tripled to right field, scoring Lowery.
That brought in Ottawa's closer,
Tom Henke, who had been perfect on the season. He gave up a deep flyball to
Louis Santop, scoring Stahl, and then a homerun to
Kenny Lofton for his first earned run of the year. This was Lofton's first WBL start, making it even more surprising. Henke retired Bates to end the game, and the Mounties took the first game of the doubleheader, 8-7.
For Ottawa, Raines stole 3 bases and scored 4 runs, going 3-for-4 on the day, and Parent added 3 hits.
The Spiders were led by Blomberg's 3 hits and Ellis' 3 RBIs.
OTT 8 (Radbourn 2-2; Henke 8 Sv) @
CLE 7 (Wyatt 1-1)
HRs: OTT - Raines (4); CLE - Ellis (6), Lofton (1)
Box Score
April 28: Game Three - Bob Brown @ Pat Malone
It's really hard to sweep a doubleheader ... but that's what Ottawa's
Bob Brown would attempt as he took the mound to face Cleveland's
Pat Malone.
Brown suffered from control issues, and the Spiders opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd, when a single by
Louis Santop was followed by walks to
Rowland Office and
Jake Stahl to load the bases. Struggling
Larry Doby followed with a double-play ball that Ottawa SS
Alex Rodriguez booted, allowing a run to score.
Chuck Knoblauch added a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead for the Spiders.
They would add another run in the 3rd on consecutive groundouts following a double by
Ron Blomberg, with Office's out scoring the run.
Three 2-out singles in the top of the 4th put the Mounties on the board, with
Emil Gross driving in Rodriguez and, an inning later,
Tim Raines would hit a solo homerun to close the lead to 3-2.
Recently recalled P
Jamie Moyer took over from Brown in the 6th, and was greeted by a double by Knoblauch. Moyer then plunked
Sammy Strang, and Blomberg plated both of them with a single, extending the lead to 5-2. Moyer survived the inning, but was replaced by
Monk Dubiel who closed out the game strong for the Mounties.
It was never a comfortable lead, as Ottawa had opportunities, but
Mel Harder and
Terry Adams were solid in relief of Malone. The game ended when
Kenny Lofton--he of the walkoff HR in the first game and inserted as a defensive substitute in this one--made a diving catch in right-center field to end the game.
Phil Bradley and
Ken Griffey, Jr (who
may be emerging from his season-long slump) had two hits for Ottawa; Blomberg had 3 hits and 2 RBIs for Cleveland.
OTT 2 (Brown 0-2) @
CLE 5 (Malone 3-1; Harder 1 H; Adams 6 Sv)
HRs: OTT - Raines (5)
Box Score
April 29: Game Four - Randy Johnson @ Bill Steen
Bill Steen has exceeded expectations so far, coming into the game with a 1-0 record and a 2.30 ERA. Ottawa will try to bring him back to Earth much as they did
Whit Wyatt, and will hope that the erratic
Randy Johnson (1-3, 7.27) can deliver a solid performance. The Big Unit has either been quite good or horrid, with his worst starts hinging on an inability to locate his fastball.
This was not one of his good starts. But Steen wasn't great, either giving up 11 hits in 5.2 IP. Somehow, though, the 12 baserunners (Steen walked one) only added up to 2 earned runs (3, total).
Johnson, on the other hand, also gave up 11 hits, but in only 4.2 IP and walked 3, with 9 runs scoring against him. The key hits were a 2-run double from
Sammy Strang and a 3-run HR from
Chuck Knoblauch that chased Johnson from the game.
Cleveland was led by Knoblauch, who went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs and 3 runs scored from the leadoff spot and
Ron Blomberg, who delivered another 3-hit game. Perhaps as importantly,
Evan Longoria showed signs of emerging from his doldrums with a 3-for-5 day.
For Ottawa,
Ken Griffey, Jr. isn't hot yet, but he's got his average all the way up to .211 with a homerun in 4 at-bats.
Phil Bradley added 4 hits and
Anthony Rendon 3, but the Mounties left a whopping 13 batters on base.
Jim Clancy was OK in relief of Johnson, allowing 1 run in 2 innings, and
Gary Lavelle closed the game out with 1.1 IP of scoreless relief.
For Cleveland,
Cory Gearrin and
Chuck Porter combined for 3.1 IP of 1-run ball behind Steen.
OTT 3 (Johnson 1-4) @
CLE 10 (Steen 2-0)
HRs: OTT - Griffey, Jr. (4); CLE - Knoblauch (2)
Box Score
Series Notes
Cleveland got good performances from
Louis Santop, whowas 7-for-12 with 4 RBIs and
Jake Stahl, who was 6-for-12 with 4 extra-base hits. But the Spiders were led by
Ron Blomberg, who had 10 hits in 15 at-bats with 6 RBIs.
For Ottawa,
Tim Raines was 5-for-17 with 2 HRs and 4 SBs,
Freddy Parent was 5-for-9, and
Phil Bradley was 7-for-13 in the series.