Game 125

August 23, 2011 – Shin-Soo Choo Hits a Double in the Midst of an Earthquake–and Later a Walkoff Home Run

Game 125 of the 2011 Season was the first game of a day-night doubleheader. The doubleheader was the result of a rainout in an earlier series against the Mariners in May. Justin Masterson was matched up with Blake Beavan for the afternoon contest. 

Indians centerfielder Kosuke Fukudome started off the scoring in the bottom of the first when he drove in Ezequiel Carrera with an RBI double. The M’s evened the score at 1-1 in the second via a Miguel Olivo RBI single. 

In the bottom of the third, Shin-Soo Choo was at the plate with two outs when the stadium began to lightly shake and sway. Tom Hamilton remarked, “Boy, the press box here is really shaking. What is the world is going on?” Choo drove a fly ball into the right field gap, which went for a double. 

The shaking turned out to be a magnitude 5.9 earthquake centered near Richmond, Virginia. Earthquakes occurring in the eastern United States can generally can be felt over a broader distance than those in the west due differences in bedrock geology. Several downtown Cleveland office buildings were evacuated, but the game continued. Choo was left on base when Calos Santana flied out to end the inning. 

Later, Fukudome doubled to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Lonnie Chisenhall gave the Tribe the lead once again when he drove in Fukudome with a single through the left side of the infield. 

The Mariners retook the lead in the top of the fifth. Trayvon Robinson doubled to left field then Ichiro knocked a single into right. Always hustling, Ichiro advanced to second on the throw home to challenge Robinson at the plate. Franklin Gutierrez then drove in Ichiro with a double into left-center. 

Fukudome came through again with a single in the bottom of the sixth. He was pushed across the plate by Matt LaPorta’s sacrifice fly. An inning later, Carlos Santana gave the Indians the 4-3 lead by way of an RBI single. Unfortunately, Choo was put out at third on a throw from right field which squashed the Indians’ momentum for a time. 

Justin Masterson had pitched a strong 8 ⅓ innings. When he gave up consecutive singles to Miguel Olivo and Kyle Seager, it was clear his day was done. Closer Chris Perez came in seeking the final two outs. 

Instead, Trayvon Robinson drove a double down the right field line which scored the runners on first and third and give Seattle a 5-4 lead. 

Brandon League came on to pitch for the M’s and put Ezequiel Carrera and pinch-hitting Asdrubal Cabrerea on to lead off the inning. Shin-Soo Choo stepped in with Carrera and Cabrerra at the corners Choo smacked League’s first pitch over the left field wall to give the Indians their sixth walk-off homer of the year. 

Choo had returned to the ballpark only two hours before game time on Tuesday. His daughter had been born at Fairview Hospital the prior afternoon. He had not planned to play in the double-header, but with Hafner, Kipnis, Sizemore, and Brantley out for the game the Indians asked if he would be willing to play. “It was up to my wife,” Choo said. “She understands the baseball life and told me to go.”

Baseball Reference Box Score

Honorable Mention – August 22, 1989 – Felix Fermin Records Four Sacrifice Hits

Felix Fermin had a sacrifice bunts in the first, fifth, seventh, and ninth innings of this game. In his at-bat in the third inning he grounded into a double-play. Only one MLBer had ever recorded four sacrifice hits in a game before–Ray Chapman of the Indians in Game 115 of the 1919 Season.

Despite the general decline in sacrifice hitting over the years, two players have completed this feat since Fermin–Kris Benson of the Pirates in 2004 and Corey Sullivan of the Rockies in 2006. Fermin remains the only player to have four sacrifices in a game played with the DH.

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 122

August 14, 2003 – Travis Hafner Hits for Cycle Just Before Widespread Blackout

The Indians were wrapping up a mid-week series in Minneapolis with a Thursday-afternoon getaway game. Even for dedicated fans, most people are not engaged with the game in real-time. Despite the history-making moments in this game–not many Clevelanders remember it–likely because not many of them even saw the highlights. 

Brian Anderson was matched up with Brad Radke of the Twins in the Metrodome. Travis Hafner opened up the scoring with a solo home run on Radke’s first pitch of the at-bat. It was a towering drive to right that landed somewhere in the “baggy” covering the collapsible seating sections used for Vikings games. At the middle of the second inning the Tribe were up 1-0. 

In the top of the third, Casey Blake bounced one into the seats and scored Jhonny Perralta with the ground-rule double. 

With two outs in the top of the fourth, Hafner slapped a bouncer over Brad Radke on a check swing. The ball found its way between the second baseman and shortstop. As it dribbled into the outfield, Pronk raced around first, and slid into second for a double.

Anderson scattered just five hits through the first six innings and the Twins never really threatened.

The Tribe broke things open in the top of the seventh when Hafner chopped one in front of the plate and beat Matt LeCroy’s throw to first. The catchers throw sailed past the first baseman and Hafner took second on the throwing error–but was credited with a single. 

Josh Bard bunted Hafner over to third. He then scored on a ground-rule double by Jhonny Perralta. The Tribe would add three additional runs in the seventh to bring the lead to 6-0. 

After another 1-2-3 inning by Anderson, Ben Broussard led off the Indians half of the eighth with a single. Ryan Ludwick struck out swinging and brought Hafnet up with a shot at the record books. Not known for his speed–clearly a triple would be a tall order for Hafner. He sent a line drive into the right-center gap, perfectly placed between the outfielders. It skipped to the wall on the Metrodome turf. Torii Hunter fielded the ball up against the wall and double-clutched before hitting his cutoff man. By the time the relay came to third, Hafner was in safely with a head-first slide. 

Anderson eventually gave up a home run to Matt LeCroy and was chased from the game. Reliever David Cortes gave up two additional runs while closing out the bottom of the ninth, but was more than serviceable in getting the Tribe to the 8-3 victory. 

Hafner’s final line was 4 hits, 2 RBI in 5 plate appearances. His mother, Bev had driven 400 miles from Sykeston North Dakota to see her son at the nearest ballpark. Hafner was the seventh Indian to hit for the cycle to date. Rajai Davis and Jake Bauers have done it since. 

The game in Minnesota ended when it was 3:36 p.m. in Cleveland. Around 3:10, various transmission lines and substations in the First Energy system began tripping off. At 4:09 all Cleveland Public Power customers were completely in the dark. Eventually, over fifty-million people in eight states and parts of Canada would be without power.

With Clevelanders scrambling to empty fridges, locate flashlights, procure generators, or drink beers with their neighbors under the stars few were paying attention to the sports day’s highlight reel and so Hafner’s cycle became a bit of trivia that escaped the memory of many.  

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 109

August 24, 1919 – Ray Caldwell Struck by Lightning, Completes Game for Win

Tris Speaker took a chance on Ray Caldwell mid-season. Caldwell had recently been cut by the Boston Red Sox due to his declining performance and issues with alcoholism. His former manager Miller Huggins later wrote of Caldwell, “[He] was one of the best pitchers that ever lived, but he was one of those characters that keep a manager in a constant worry. If he had possessed a sense of responsibility and balance, Ray Caldwell would have gone down in history as one of the greatest of all pitchers.”

Caldwell showed his ability to pitch brilliantly on this August afternoon against Connie Mack’s Athletics. He also showed incredible fortitude after a crazy turn of events.

In the bottom of the fourth, Rollie Naylor walked Indians shortstop Ray Chapman. Player-manager Tris Speaker drew a second walk. Joe Harris hit a sacrifice fly that moved both runners over. Third baseman Larry Gardner grounded out, but plated Caldwell. With two outs, Bill Wambsganss hit a sharp grounder to the shortstop. The As Joe Dugan fielded it, but blew the throw to first. As the ball skipped away, Speaker was able to score from third on the error. 

Ray Caldwell

In the top of the fifth, George Burns of the As reached on a hit by pitch, and then was driven home by a Cy Perkins grounder. This cut the Indians’ lead to 2-1, but Caldwell was pitching confidently and efficiently. 

A slight but steady rain had been falling for most of the game, as dark clouds scudded off Lake Erie in the way that they often do in late summer, but the game continued. Caldwell had the As down to their final out. With Joe Dugan at the plate, there was a sudden crack of thunder and a blinding flash. Players and fans alike dove for cover. 

After a moment, others had recovered but Caldwell lay sprawled on the mound. 

The shock knocked off Indians catcher Cy Perkin’s helmet and mask. Several players later said that they felt the shock in their legs, conducted upward by their metal cleats. “We all could feel the tingle of the electric shock running through our systems, particularly in our legs,” umpire Billy Evans later reported. 

Caldwell slowly got up from the mound and assessed the damage. He had slight burns on his chest and tingling all over. Witnesses speculated that the lighting had struck the metal button on top of his cap, run through his body, and exited out his metal spikes. Caldwell described the experience to the Cleveland Press, “felt just like somebody came up with a board and hit me on top of the head and knocked me down.”

After a few minutes to shake off the mighty shock, the players re-took their positions–including Caldwell–to get the final out. Dugan hit a grounder to Larry Gardner at third base, who completed the throw to first and sealed the complete game win for Caldwell. 

Caldwell’s overall pitching line: nine innings, three strikeouts, two walks, and one near-death experience. 

Baseball Reference Box Score

Honorable Mention: 2011 – Masterson 4 Ks in Inning

Baseball Reference Box Score

Honorable Mention: 2018 – Kluber Throws a Maddux

Kluber used 98 pitches–64 of them strikes–to blank the Angels. A home run by Leonys Martin provided the winning run. 

Baseball Reference Box Score

Game 4

April 6, 2007 – Home Opener Snowed Out, Later Played in Milwaukee

Indians starter Paul Byrd took the mound after a one-hour and ten minute delay into a driving snowstorm. To the TV viewer’s eye, there was little difference in the conditions during and after the delay. Evidently, the umpires thought that they saw some relief in the radar signature. Byrd was working on a no-hitter through four innings, certainly assisted by the falling snow.

With two outs and two strikes in the top of the fourth, Mariners manager Mike Hargrove exited the dugout to make his case with the umpire crew. He urged that the game be delayed because his batters could not see the ball against the white background of swiftly-falling snow.

At this point–one-strike away from being an official game–the game was delayed. The sell-out crowd remained in the stands building snowmen for another hour and seventeen minutes. With no improvement in the weather in sight, the game (and eventually the entire series) was called due to weather. With over a foot of snow coating the field, the Mariners series was re-scheduled to open dates throughout the season. The 10-day forecast indicated that the April 10th game against the Angels was in jeopardy as well. MLB began looking for an alternate site for the series against the Angels.

On April 10th, flatbed trucks were busy removing snow from Jacob’s Field. 500 miles away in Milwaukee, over 19,000 fans came to Miller Park in Milwaukee to see the Indians “Home Opener.” The Indians did all that they could to bring the home field advantage to Wisconsin: John Adams was in the crowd with his drum, the staff had loaded the Indians hype videos and walkup music into Miller Park’s systems, and Slider took a ride down Bernie Brewer’s famous slide.

The game itself was a fairly standard affair. Kelly Shoppach hit a home run off Ervin Santana in the bottom of the 2nd. The Angels threatened several times, but CC Sebathia had a solid outing holding the Angels to only three runs through seven innings. The Angels scored two runs in the 8th and pulled within one when Casey Kochman scored Garrett Anderson on a two-out single in the bottom of the 9th against closer Joe Borowski. Eric Eybar came in as a pinch runner for Casey Kotchman who was on second. On a 1-1 pitch, Shoppach caught Eybar stealing to end the game.

After all of the drama of the last five days and a memorable win, all the Indians wanted to talk about in the post-game interviews was the Milwaukee crowd. “I thought it would be like five, maybe 500,” Borowski said. “I thought it would be like an American Legion game. I mean, come on, less than 24 hours’ notice? I didn’t think anyone would be here.”