Pitcher bats Indians into Game 7 with 4-1 win

Posted: Sun October 26, 1997 at 1:44 AM ET

MIAMI (CNN/SI) -- Facing elimination, the Cleveland Indians entered Saturday's Game 6 of the World Series pulling for Chad Ogea to pitch them to a Game 7. They never counted on him batting them to the brink of their first championship in 49 years, but that's exactly what he did.

The right-handed hitting Ogea slapped a two-run single in the second inning -- his first major league hit -- then doubled and scored in the fifth as the Indians downed the Florida Marlins 4-1 at Pro Player Stadium.

Game 7 is scheduled for Sunday at 7:35 p.m. ET in Miami, with Cleveland rookie Jaret Wright facing Florida's Al Leiter.

Florida starter Kevin Brown, who lost Game 2, was knocked out of the game Saturday after five innings, mainly because of Ogea.

Ogea's unlikely bat gave the Cleveland Indians one more chance to beat the Florida Marlins -- and a cursed history.

"I just tried to swing hard in case I hit the ball," Ogea said. "My father always taught me to hit to right field, so I tried to do that."

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A sensational play by shortstop Omar Vizquel, strong work by the bullpen and a record-tying two sacrifice flies by Manny Ramirez helped Cleveland continue the teams' pattern of alternating wins.

Now, a week that has often lacked drama has the ultimate -- the first World Series Game 7 since 1991, that memorable night in the Metrodome when Jack Morris pitched all 10 innings and led Minnesota over Atlanta 1-0.

For Cleveland, the final game of the 1997 season marks one more chance to overcome a legacy of losing that spans nearly a half-century. The Indians have not won the World Series since 1948, with their fans' frustration starting about the time Willie Mays robbed Vic Wertz in the 1954 Series.

"The biggest thing for us is that we have a veteran team, that seems to do well with out backs against the wall," Ogea said.

For Florida, the last game means an opportunity to a fast climb that has lasted only half a decade. The Marlins are trying to become the youngest franchise to win the World Series.

The Marlins, who were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base in Game 6, will have the home crowd of 67,000 on their side, but the Indians have a stat in their favor -- road teams are 17-15 in Game 7s.

Wearing their lucky blue jerseys for the first time in the postseason, the Indians did not wilt in the balmy conditions. It was 80 degrees with 85 percent humidity at the start at Pro Player Stadium, a sharp contrast to frosty Jacobs Field, where the wind chill factors averaged 27 degrees for the middle three games.

While the warm weather was not a surprise, the skill Ogea showed with the bat was a shock.

He had been 0-for-2 with two sacrifices during interleague play this year and went 0-for-2 with another bunt in Game 2. He had drawn praise from Marlins manager Jim Leyland, however, for his poise at the plate.

Ogea credited his father for teaching him how to hit, and he surely made his dad proud for what he did his first two times at bat.

The game was scoreless in the second inning when a leadoff single by Matt Williams, a walk to Jim Thome and a one-out walk to Marquis Grissom loaded the bases.

Up stepped Ogea, forced to bat because the DH is not used in NL parks. Ogea was not fazed by Brown's hard sinkers, taking healthy cuts and fouling off two pitches.

Ogea took the next two pitches for balls, then fouled off two more. This had become an intriguing matchup -- maybe not Reggie vs. Bob Welch, but interesting -- and Ogea ended it by lining a single to the right of first baseman Jeff Conine.

Ogea became the first Indians pitcher to drive in a run since Steve Dunning homered on September 19, 1972, a year before the AL introduced the DH.

In the fifth, Ogea grounded a double between Conine and the bag, and later scored on Ramirez's fly for a 4-0 lead. Ramirez also had a sacrifice fly in the third.

Ogea, the first pitcher with two hits and two RBIs in a Series game since Detroit's Mickey Lolich in 1968, poured a couple of cupfuls of water over his head after scoring.

Perhaps a bit tired from his run around the bases, he gave up Florida's only run in the bottom half on singles by Moises Alou and Charles Johnson and a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Darren Daulton.

Ogea walked Gary Sheffield to start the sixth and was pulled in favor of Mike Jackson after allowing one run and four hits. The Marlins put runners on second and third with two outs, but Vizquel, who won his fifth consecutive Gold Glove this week, dived into the hole and made a rainbow throw that nipped Johnson to end the inning.

Jackson escaped another jam by retiring Bobby Bonilla on a fly ball with the bases loaded to finish the seventh. Paul Assenmacher pitched the eighth and Jose Mesa worked the ninth for a save.

Notes: Indians second baseman Bip Roberts left the game in the fifth inning because of flu-like symptoms. He was replaced by Tony Fernandez. ... Conine was robbed twice by nice plays. Grissom ran back into an oddly angled corner in center field to catch a long fly in the second and David Justice made a sliding grab of a liner to left in the fourth. ... Cleveland's Kevin Seitzer grounded out as a pinch hitter in the first Series at-bat of his career. At 35, he is retiring after 12 years in the majors. ... The last player to hit two sacrifice flies in a Series game was Wes Westrum for the New York Giants in 1954. ... Because of Game 7, the NFL game between the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins was moved from Sunday to Monday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.