Game 153

September 19, 2008 – Fausto Carmona Beats on Gary Sheffield in Bench-Clearing Brawl, Choo Homers Twice

Both the Indians and Tigers were well out of the playoff picture behind the Division-leading White Sox. It was only 70 degrees and the breeze was blowing in off the lake, but balls were jumping out of Progressive Field as though it were mid-August. 

The pitcher then-known as Fausto Carmona retired the first nine Tigers he faced. Meanwhile, Shin-Soo Choo put the Tribe up 1-0 with a solo home run of Armando Galaraga in the bottom of the first. 

Curtis Granderson doubled down the left field line to lead off the bottom of the fourth. After two outs, Miguel Cabrera took Fausto deep with a two-run homer to left center. 

Carmona returned to form and pitched 1-2-3 innings in both the fifth and sixth. Then Grady Sizemore tied things up with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. 

Maglio Ordonez led off the Detroit half of the seventh with a single. Miguel Cabrera stepped in and launched his second homer of the night off Carmona. Matthew Joyce grounded out, and Gary Sheffield stepped in with the 4-2 lead.

Carmona’s second pitch hit Sheffield square in the elbow. Sheffield walked all the way to first carrying his bat and maintaining a staredown on Fausto. Brandon Inge steps in, but the tension in the building remained between the mound and first base. Fausto made a pickoff move to first, which Sheffield took further exception to. He motioned toward Inge and told Fausto, “Throw to the Plate.” 

Helmets and gloves came off as Sheffield charged the mound. 6-foot-4, 270 pound Carmona caught him in a headlock and landed three or four solid punches before the benches arrived to push and shove the two apart. Victor Martinez in his catching gear goes down after a block in the back and gets up looking to knock a Tiger out. Brandon Inge is able to pull Victor away from the Fray while fellow Venezuelan Miguel Cabrera gets between Victor and the rest of the Tigers. 

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Once things settled down and ejections were sorted out, Edward Mujica struck out Brandon Inge. Victor Martinez gunned down Jeff Larish (who had replaced Sheffield on first) at second for a strike-out throw-out double play to end the frame. 

Ramon Santiago tripled to lead off the eighth for the Tigers, and he was driven in on a Dusty Ryan sacrifice to give Detroit a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. 

Jamey Carrol pinch hit for Andy Marte to lead off the bottom of the eighth and grounded out to second. Asdrubal Cabrera popped out to short. Grady Sizemore blooped a two-out double into short left field which chased Galaraga from the game. 

Casey Fossum emerged from Detroit’s bullpen to throw five straight balls. He issued a walk to Ben Francisco, and then Shin-Soo Choo hit a prodigious three-run blast to right center on Fossum’s first strike. Choo’s homer tied the game at 5-5. 

Rafael Betancourt and Rafael Perez combined to retire the side in the ninth inning. 

Freddy Dolsi hit Kelly Shoppach with his second pitch to put Shoppach on first. He was replaced by Bobby Seay while Josh Barfield came on to pinch run for Shoppach. Travis Hafner struck out swinging, and then Ryan Garko singled down the left field line to put the winning run at third. Utility infielder Jamey Carroll lofted a fly ball to deep right field. It dropped for a walkoff single. 

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 150

September 24, 1950 – Bob Lemon Helps Out His Own Cause, Scoring Winning Run in 10-Inning Complete Game

Bob Lemon led a very solid Indians rotation along with Bob Feller, Early Wynn, and Mike Garcia. Despite outstanding pitching, the Indians were in the middle of the pack. They were sitting in 4th in the American League standings when Detroit came to town in the waning days of the 1950 season. Lemon was matched up with Ted Grey on this Sunday afternoon on the Lakefront. 

Lemon got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first when he got Jerry Priddy to ground out and end the threat. 

Likewise, Grey escaped a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the third when Tribe shortstop Ray Boone popped out to left field. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Lemon helped out his own cause by smacking a two-out home run to put the Indians up 1-0. 

Tigers shortstop Johnny Lipton tied things up in the top of the seventh when he led off the inning with a solo home run off Lemon. Lemon then retired the next eight Tigers he faced. After issuing a walk to Lipton in the bottom of the ninth, George Kell grounded out back to the mound. 

Gray struck out Joe Gordon and Jim Hegan in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras. 

The Tigers got runners to first and third in the top of the tenth, but Lemon cut down Don Kolloway for his fifth strikeout in 10 innings. 

Lemon led off the bottom of the tenth by slapping one into the massive outfield at Municipal Stadium. Lemon stretched the hit into a triple. Gray intentionally walked both Dale Mitchell and Bobby Kennedy to load the bases. Larry Doby was put out on a pop foul. Next up, Luke Easter grounded one sharply to first. Kolloway got to the bag for the out, but had no play on Lemon coming home to score the winning run. 

Lemon threw a 10-inning complete game giving up only one run on five hits. He scored the Indians only two runs in the game on two of the Tribe’s six hits on the day. Lemon notched his 22nd win (of an eventual 23). This was his league-leading 22nd complete game. He also appeared seven times out of the bullpen in 1950 and went 6 for 26 as a pinch hitter. 

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 148

September 17, 2016 – Most Pitchers Ever Used in a Shutout After Carlos Carrasco Is Hit with Line Drive

The Plain Dealer’s Sunday Sports Headline the next day read, “Sept. 17: The day Cleveland Indians’ postseason dreams ended before they began.” Of course, that turned out to be false. Although 2016 ended in heartbreak, the heartbreak happened in Game 7 of the World Series and was hardly a foregone conclusion. 

The Tribe had an eight-game lead over Detroit in the Central and was poised to clinch the Division, but had been wracked with injuries–most recently to Danny Salazar and Yan Gomes. A strong regular season including a then franchise-leading fourteen game win streak had the Indians in a strong position, but fans and writers were doubting their staying power.  Carlos Carrasco was set to square off with Justin Verlander in the premier matchup of the weekend.

Ian Kinsler lined Carlos Carrasco’s first pitch right back to the mound that struck Carlos in the hand. Carrasco left the game and was later diagnosed with a broken bone in the little finger of his throwing hand. It was immediately apparent that he was done for the season. 

A day that started as an opportunity for a workhorse starter to eat innings and prepare for the post-season became a bullpen day in an instant. 

Terry Francona called Jason Bere the bullpen coach, “Tell them to put their seat belts on, ‘because they’re all going to pitch, and we’re going to win.” First up was Jeff Manship, who attempted to right the ship. Manship erased Kinsler by getting Cameron Maybin to ground into a double play. He went on to pitch a scoreless 1 ⅓ innings. 

Kyle Crockett retired the remaining two batters in the top of the second with no damage done. Cody Anderson was untouched in the top of the third. In the top of the fourth, Miguel Cabrera got aboard with a line drive single to left, but Victor Martinez grounded into a double play. Zach McAllister needed only ten pitchers to retire the Tigers side in the top of the fifth on three fly balls. Perci Gardner put runners on first and third before getting Victor Martinez to strike out to end the inning. Bryan Shaw walked J.D. Martinez to lead off the seventh, but retired the next three Tigers with no damage done. Cody Allen dispatched with Detroit in order in the top of the eighth. 

Through all of these changes, Justin Verlander worked through the Indians lineup. He pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up only one hit and four walks. Alex Wilson replaced him on the mound for the bottom of the eighth and held on to the scoreless tie. 

Andrew Miller came on to pitch the top of the ninth for the Indians. He battled Miguel Cabrera through an 8 pitch at-bat and eventually set Miggy down on a swinging strikeout. J.D. Martinez came up with a two-out single, but was left on base when Justin Upton lined out to right. 

After the Tribe squandered a two-out rally in the bottom of the ninth, Andrew Miller returned to pitch the top of the 10th. Miller struck out the first two Tigers, and then got Jose Iglesias to ground out weakly back to the mound. 

Justin Wilson stayed on to pitch the bottom of the 10th for Detroit. Carlos Santana drew a walk to lead off the inning. Jason Kipnis laid down a bunt, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia scooped it up in front of the plate and forced Santana out at second. With Franciso Lindor at the plate, Kipnis advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then stole third. Lindor drew a seven-pitch walk to put runners at the corners. Detroit issued Mike Napoli an intentional walk to load the bases and set up a double play. 

Jose Ramirez stepped in and knocked Wilson’s 2-2 pitch into center field scoring Kipnis easily. Jose’s walkoff single was the club’s 10th walkoff win of the season. Miller was credited with the win and later remarked, “”We have no other choice … we have to find a way to win – no matter who is starting.” There could not have been a better tagline for the six weeks that were about to come between Game 148 and Game 7 of the World Series. 

The Indians used nine pitchers who combined for a four-hit ten strikeout victory. The bullpen crew gave up only three walks throughout the whole game. 

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 136

September 3, 2017 – Jose Ramirez’ Five Extra Base Hits Tie MLB Record

The Indians entered this game riding a 10-game win streak. The Tribe had a nine game lead in the division and were wrapping up a weekend series in Detroit against the lowly Tigers. Josh Tomlin was set to pitch against recent call-up Chad Bell. 

In the top of the first, Jose Ramirez stepped in against Bell with two outs. He lined the 3-1 pitch to deep left field where it hit the yellow line at the top of the wall. Mikie Matouk jumped and attempted to catch the live ball, but ended up tipping it over the wall and out for a home run. The Tribe manufactured two more runs in the bottom of the second courtesy of RBIs by Roberto Perez and Francisco Lindor. The Indians had a 3-0 lead in the early going. 

After recording the first two outs in the bottom of the second, Tomlin gave up three consecutive singles to Candelario, McCann, and Jacoby Jones. Jones’ single plated Candelario to cut the Indians lead to 3-1. 

Ramirez doubled once again to lead off the top of the third inning. He advanced to third on an Encarnacion groundout and then scored on Carlos Santana’s fielder’s choice. 

Jose doubled down the left field line in the top of the fifth and chased Bell from the game. 

In the top of the sixth, after a Greg Allen strikeout, Lindor homered off Zac Reininger. Austin Jackson followed with a single to left. Ramirez stepped to the plate and lined one sharply to the right field corner. Again, it just cleared the wall and bounced off the railing for Jose’s second home run of the game. 

NIck Goody replaced Tomlin to get the final out of the sixth and then pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. 

Jose led off the top of the eighth with his third double of the game–a well-hit ball that bounced behind Jacoby Jones’ and off the wall in dead center.He joined only nine other players that have recorded five extra-base hits in a nine-inning game. The list includes two other Indians. Lou Boudreau in Game 81 of 1946 where he hit a homer and slapped four doubles in a loss at Fenway. Kelly Shoppach hit two homers and three triples in a 14-12 loss to the Tigers in Game 106 of 2008.

Gio Urshella came in to pinch run for Ramirez. Encarnacion doubled to drive in Urshella and make it a 9-1 game. 

The Indians would add another two runs, but Encarnacion never had the opportunity to shoot for a sixth extra base hit and sole possession of the record. Jose had 14 total bases–one short of Lonnie Chisenhall’s club record from Game 64 of 2014. The win was the eleventh of the streak that began with Game 126.

Baseball Reference Box Score

Honorable Mention – September 24, 1903 – Bill Bradley Hits for the Cycle

In a 12-2 victory over the Washington Senators, third baseman Bill Bradley hit for the cycle–with an extra double. One of the finest hitters of the deadball era, Bradley’s accomplishments are largely lost to history but he is remembered as one of the luminaries of early Cleveland baseball along with Nap Lajoie, Addie Joss, and Elmer Flick. 

SABR Biography 

Game 103

July 31, 2009 – Indians Walkoff Win in the 13th after Trading Lee and Martinez

The Indians had just traded Cy Young winner Cliff Lee to the Phillies and fan favorite Ryan Garko to the Giants. In the afternoon prior to Game 103, the Indians traded beloved catcher and clubhouse leader Victor Martinez to the Red Sox for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Bryan Price. The Indians were classic sellers at the trade deadline, as they were 43 and 60 going into July 31st and 11 games behind the division-leading Tigers at the trade deadline. 

Those same Tigers were in town for a Friday night contest at Progressive Field. Fausto Carmona throwing against Detroit’s Edwin Jackson. Both pitchers took a minute to find their footing. Fausto gave up two runs on three hits in the top of the first. Asdrubal Cabrera battled Jackson through a full count, sending the ninth pitch of the at bat over the right field wall for a two-run homer. 

Shin-Soo Choo gave the Tribe a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth when he doubled in Trevor Crowe, who had reached on an error to lead off the inning. 

Taiwainese reliever Fu-Te Ni came in to pitch for the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth. He gave up a leadoff single to Trevor Crowe and then a line-drive RBI double to Asdrubal Cabrera. After hitting Choo in the next at bat, Ni was pulled with the score 4-2. 

Brandon Inge closed the gap for Detroit, poking a ground ball single into center that scored Maglio Ordonez to make it a 4-3 ballgame. 

Trevor Crowe led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple–his third hit of the night. Grady Sizemore drove him in with a single through the right side of the infield to extend the lead to 5-3. 

The Indians had acquired Kerry Wood as a free agent to be their closer after the steep decline of Joe Borowski in 2008. Wood had secured fourteen saves with the Tribe to date. He gave up a line drive single to left to Placido Palanco to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Carlos Guillen stepped in and cranked Kerry’s 3-1 pitch deep into right center. Although he retired the next three Tigers on eight pitches, he was credited with his fifth blown save of the season and the game went to extra innings. 

Tomo Okha pitched some very solid relief for the Tribe, scattering four hits across his four innings pitched. 

Johnny Perralta knocked a line drive down the right field line for a double to lead off the bottom of the 13th. Utility man Jamey Carroll, who had pinch run for Travis Hafner in the bottom of the ninth, stepped in. Carroll sliced a single just inside the first base bag to drive in Perralta and give the Tribe an emotional walkoff win. 

The next day, a Victor Martinez bobblehead promotion was planned for Game 104. Despite V-Mart’s departure the bobbleheads were distributed as planned. Six days later, the promotional team went ahead with a Victor Martinez chest protector backpack giveaway–a case study in why not to schedule player-specific promotions the week after the trade deadline. 

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 97

July 24, 2012 – Suicide Squeeze by Aaron Cunningham Bunts Home the Winning Run

The division-leading Tigers came into Progressive Field riding a five-game winning streak and sent Doug Fister to the hill against Ubaldo Jiminez. 

Johnny Damon broke the ice for the Tribe in the bottom of the second with a line drive single to center off Fister’s first pitch that drove home Carlos Santana. 

Jason Kipnis led off the bottom of the fourth with a double down the left field line. Michael Brantley got aboard when he beat out a ground ball to third. Kipnis held at second. Then Santana punched a single between first and second to score Kipnis. Brantley ended up caught in a rundown, which saw Detroit first baseman Cecil Fielder sprinting across the infield on the wild play to tag out Dr. Smooth. 

Joe Smith replaced Ubaldo to pitch the top of the seventh. After retiring the first two batters, he issued a walk to Quintin Berry. Unfortunately, Miguel Cabrera was up next. Smith fell behind 2-0 to Miguel, who crushed the following pitch over the center field wall to tie up the game. 

After a Carlos Santana fly-out, Travis Hafner launched a low line drive which ricocheted off the wall in left center. Hafner was safe at third with a head-first slide. 

Lou Marson was brought on to pinch run for a clearly-winded Hafner. Marson took off toward the plate on the 1-1 pitch to Cunningham who laid down a perfect bunt back to the pitcher. Fister fielded the bunt cleanly, but his throw home was rushed and got away from catcher Alex Avila. Marson scored on the suicide squeeze and Cunningham took second on the error. 

Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez held up the 3-2 lead to secure the win and end the Tiger’s winning streak. In reference to the blown save Smith said, “It was like my big truck was sitting on top of me and somebody lifted it off…The guys bounced right back after I messed up.”

Less than 24 hours later, Cunningham was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for first baseman Brent Lillibridge who had just been acquired from the Red Sox. Manager Manny Acta had high praise for Cunningham as a teammate, but his .197 average in 97 appearances was not enough to keep him on the big league team. 

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 68

July 1, 1951 – Bob Feller’s Third No-Hitter (Not a Shutout)

On the first Sunday in July, the Tigers were visiting Municipal Stadium. Bob Feller was on the mound facing Detroit’s Bob Cain.

Bob Feller on a Roadmaster bicycle, made by the Cleveland Welding Company

With runners on second and third in the bottom of the first, Luke Easter grounded to short scoring Dale Mitchell from third.

In the Detroit half of the first, Tigers shortstop Johnny Lipon reached on an error by Tribe shortstop Ray Boone. With Jerry Priddy at the plate, Lipon stole second and advanced to third on a wild throw by Dick Kryhoski. Lipon scored on a sacrifice fly by George Kell, tying the game at 1-1.

Feller issued two walks, but otherwise had the Tigers offense locked down. Feller later remarked to the Plain Dealer, “My fast ball and curve were nothing to brag about so I was depending on the slider most of the time. The fast one got better as the game moved along and I used it quite a bit in the late innings.”

In the bottom of the eighth, Sam Chapman had a one-out triple. Milt Neilson replaced him as a pinch runner. Luke Easter drove in the winning run with a single to right field which scored Neilson easily.

Feller faced the heart of the Tigers batting order in the top of the ninth. He got Charlie Keller and George Kell to fly out to right and left field, respectively. Vic Wertz was up with the Tigers down to their last out. A month earlier, Wertz broke up Bob Lemon’s bid for a perfect game. Feller struck out Wertz looking to end the game and earn his third no hitter.

Photo: thenationalpastimemuseum.com

As of this entry, there have been 300 no-hitters officially recognized by Major League Baseball. 257 of them are in the time-scope of this Project (since 1901). Three career No-Hitters was the record at that time and brought Feller into rare air with Cy Young and Larry Corcoran (of the 1880s White Stockings). Sandy Koufax recorded his fourth No-No in 1965, and Nolan Ryan surpassed them all, eventually marking his seventh in 1991.

According to Baseball Reference, there have been ten recognized No-Hitters that were not shutouts. Fellers was the second after Dazzy Vance and the Brooklyn Robins No-Hit the Phillies but Phillies first basemen Chicken Hawks scored an unearned run via an E7 and a sacrifice fly in Game 134 of 1925.

The most recent victims of the No-Hit non-shutout are the Indians themselves. Irvin Santana of the Angels No-Hit the Tribe in Game 102 of the 2011 campaign However, Eziquiel Carrera reached on an E6, stole second, advanced to third on an Asdrubal Cabrera groundout, and scored on a wild pitch.

Game 66

July 3, 1939 – Three Triples by Ben Chapman

The Indians were in Michigan with Bob Feller on the mound facing Detroit’s Archie McKain. In the bottom of the first, Chapman walked, but was ultimately left stranded at third.

With the score still tied 0-0, Chapman led off the top of the fourth with a triple. Hal Trosky grounded out to McKain, but the speedy Chapman was able to score.

Feller was cruising through the Tiger’s lineup, and the score was still 1-0 when Chapman came up with two outs in the top of the 6th. He tripled again, but was stranded on third by a Hal Trosky groundout.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers tied it up with a solo homer by Hall of Famer and former Indian Earl Averill–who played two years in Detroit in the twilight of his career.

Skeeter Webb led off the Indians half of the eighth with a fly out to center. Bob Feller got on base with a single and was moved over by a Rollie Helmsley hit. Bruce Campbell rocked a three-run home run to make it a 4-1 game. Chapman followed with his third triple of the day. Trosky grounded out to first, and Chapman was held at third. He was stranded again when Jeff Heath was called out on strikes.

Roy Cullenbine pinch hit for Archie McKain in the bottom of the eighth and led off the Inning with a home run, cutting the Indians lead to 4-2. Feller closed out the game for a final stat line of 2 runs on 5 hits, 4 walks, and two strikeouts.

Since 1920, 29 players have hit three triples in a game. The feat was somewhat more common before World War I when massive outfields were common–roughly once or twice a year In some early cases, spectators were seated in the outfield when the grandstands were over-full. The ground rules dictated that balls hit into spectator areas were awarded three bases.

Five Indians have had a three-triple game, but only Campbell’s occurred in what most would consider the modern era of hitting. The others were Elmer Flick in Game 68 of 1902, Bill Bradley on Game 82 of 1903, Nap Lajoie in Game 66 of 1904, and Shoeless Joe Jackson in Game 65 of 1912. Although many of the massive outfields were still around in 1939, Campbell’s three triples were not heavily assisted by odd dimensions. Briggs Field (later known as Tiger Stadium) would be recognizable to today’s hitters.

http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/

If you have heard of Ben Chapman before, it is likely as part of Jackie Robinson’s story. As manager of the Phillies in 1947, he heaped racist vitriol on Robinson from the dugout and encouraged his players to do the same. This was not a one-off performance. In 1934, nearly  15,000 New Yorkers signed a petition requesting Yankees fire Chapman because of his anti-Semitic remarks.

Despite that dark history, this game must be acknowledged as one of the preeminent feats of hitting and baserunning in Indians history.

The latest player to hit three triples in a game was Denard Span for the Twins against the Tigers on June 29, 2010. For comparison, there had been eighty 3+ home run games between Al Bumbry’s three-triple game in 1973 and Span’s 2010 effort.

Baseball Reference Box Score    

Game 53

June 1, 2007 – 5 Run Comeback – Both Roberto Hernandezes Pitch

Fausto Carmona started this game against the Tigers Mike Maroth. The Tigers jumped on the board early with a leadoff triple by Curtis Granderson to open the game and RBI singles by Placido Palanco and Sean Casey.

The Tigers led by four runs at three different points in the game: after a two-run home run by left fielder Craig Monroe in the top of the 6th; after the they manufactured four runs on three hits off Indians relievers Tom Mastny and Aaron Fultz; and after Fernando Cabrera walked in a run and Omar Infante had an RBI single off Roberto Hernandez in the top of the 9th.

Indians entered the bottom of the 9th down 11-7. The Tigers sent in closer Todd Jones. After a leadoff groundout by Grady Sizemore, Casey Blake singled and Jones walked Travis Hafner on five pitches. With runners on first and second, Victor Martinez launched one to deep left field for a three-run home run.

David Dellucci

Jhonny Perralta doubled, and Ryan Garko struck out. With two outs, Jones intentionally walked Trot Nixon to set up the force out. Josh Barfield drove a line drive to short right field, scoring Mike Rouse who had pinch run for Perralta. David Delluci–the ninth batter of the inning–stepped in and completed the comeback with a walkoff line drive to center field.

This was Jones’ second straight blown save on his way to a league high 11 blown saves for the season.

Looking back, it is interesting to note that the pitchers who recorded the first and last outs for the Indians were both named Roberto Hernandez. Of course, we did not know that at the time.

Roberto “Fausto Carmona” Hernandez

The baseball world would later learn that starter Fausto Carmona had committed identity fraud and was actually Roberto Hernandez–and three years older than previously reported.

Roberto “Roberto Hernandez” Hernandez

The Roberto Hernandez who recorded out #27 was Roberto Hernandez the former All-Star who appeared in 28 games in relief for the Indians in the twilight of his 17-year MLB career. Luckily the Tribe offense was geared up to make up for the miscues of both Hernandezes on this evening.

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 49

May 29, 2001 – Jim Thome Passes Belle as Indians All-time Home Run Leader

In 1990, minor-league hitting coach Charlie Manuel would instruct a young Jim Thome to relax and extend his bat toward center field at the beginning of each at bat. That pose is now immortalized as a statue in the plaza beyond center field in downtown Cleveland.

After breaking into the big-leagues full-time in 1994, Jim Thome became a prolific slugger who was sometimes overshadowed on team’s full of power hitters with big personalities.

After Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez had signed elsewhere as free agents, Thome continued on with the Tribe through the 2002 season, bringing continuity and continued production year upon year.  

In the middle of a weekday series with Detroit, Thome was hitting 5th in the lineup when Dave Burba matched up with the Tiger’s Victor Santos at Comerica Park.

Santos struck out Jacob Cruz and Omar Vizquel to start the game. Robbie Alomar tripled, and Santos walked Juan Gonzalez on five pitches. Thome kicked off the scoring with a line drive RBI double down the right field foul line.

The Tigers manufactured two runs off Burba in the bottom of the third, taking the early lead.

Leading off in the top of the fourth, Thome sent an opposite-field home run over the wall in left-center. This was his 243rd career home run, all with the Indians. This put him over Albert Belle as the all-time franchise home run leader.

There was plenty of offense in the game, with several lead changes. Robbie Alomar’s two-run home run off Heath Murray in the top of the 7th would end up being the winning run. The Tribe went on to a 6-4 win on the day.

The next year, Thome would break the single-season home-run mark of 50 also set by Belle in 1995 when he smacked 52 before departing for Philadelphia as a free agent in the off season.

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