|
|
 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Familiar ending Renteria sinks Indians with ninth-inning RBI single
Updated: Sunday July 08, 2001 6:10 PM
CLEVELAND (AP) -- It wasn't October or a Game 7, but seeing the Cleveland Indians always makes Edgar Renteria feel like he's in the World Series. Renteria did it to Cleveland again, hitting an RBI single with one out in the ninth inning off John Rocker on Sunday to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 4-3 win over the Indians. Renteria, who singled home Florida's winning run in the 11th inning of Game 7 in the 1997 World Series against the Indians, drove in pinch-runner Eli Marrero from second as the Cardinals salvaged the series finale. "I like to play Cleveland, I get excited," Renteria said. "It means a lot. If feel real good about myself because this was big hit and a big win." Craig Paquette homered for the Cardinals, who won for the first time in five tries at Jacobs Field and improved to 43-43 at the All-Star break, eight games behind first-place Chicago in the NL Central. "There's a big difference between minus-2 and even," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "So this was a real big win." The Indians finished a season-long, 10-game homestand at just 4-6, leaving them 49-36 and a season-high five games back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. Following the game, Indians manager Charlie Manuel kept the clubhouse door closed an extra 10 minutes and challenged his players. "We've got some guys who I question if they give it all to us," Manuel said. "I think they need to look in the mirror and give us 100 percent. I know we have a good club, and I know there are some areas we have to improve on. "We have some guys who can step it up more, and I expect them to do it in the second half." Rocker (2-2), who blew a save Thursday night against Boston, started the ninth and quickly got ahead of Mike Matheny 0-2 before walking him, and Kerry Robinson sacrificed. Rocker then went to a 1-2 count on Fernando Vina before walking him, and had two strikes on Renteria before he bounced his single through the left side. While Rocker tossed his socks into a laundry hamper following the game, an Indians spokesman said Rocker would not comment because the closer had a plane to catch. "Rocker got ahead but he couldn't put hitters away," said La Russa, familiar with Rocker from the NL. "It wasn't so much what he did as opposed to what our guys did. Matheny and Vina had big at-bats." Mike Timlin (3-4) pitched the final 1 2-3 innings for the win. Mark McGwire, who came into the series in an 0-for-29 slump and then squashed a report he was retiring, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and was hit by a pitch. Jim Thome had three more hits for Cleveland and went 7-for-10 with four homers and eight RBIs in the series. After the Indians squandered some early scoring chances, Thome came through with an RBI double in the fifth off Dustin Hermanson to tie it 3-3. Thome homered three times Friday night, walked four times and hit a game-winning homer in the 10th on Saturday and reached base eight straight times with the double. St. Louis went up 3-2 in the fifth on a pair of two-out singles and rookie Jake Westbrook's wild pitch. Westbrook, who might stay in the Indians' starting rotation in the second half of the season, gave up three runs and five hits in five innings of his fourth career start. Paquette's wind-blown homer put the Cardinals up 2-1 in the second. Ray Lankford drew a one-out walk before Paquette's fly to right caught a wind gust and carried over the wall. Cleveland tied it in the fourth on Einar Diaz's one-out RBI single, but Hermanson struck out Russell Branyan and second baseman Vina made a nice running catch to take a run-scoring hit away from Jolbert Cabrera. The Indians, 1-16 when they score three runs or less, scored one run in the first on Omar Vizquel's RBI single, but ran themselves out of a potential big inning when Alomar got caught in a rundown between second and third. Hermanson then got out of a first-and-third situation by striking out Ellis Burks and retiring Wil Cordero on a groundout. Notes: Both benches were warned when Hermanson drilled Alomar in the back in the first. McGwire later got hit by Westbrook on the left hand. ... Cleveland's Juan Gonzalez was not in the lineup because of a bruised right knee. He and Alomar leased a jet to fly them to Seattle on Monday for the All-Star Game. Gonzalez is bringing his entourage, while Alomar will travel with his fiancee, tennis star Mary Pierce. ... McGwire's next homer, his 563rd, will tie him with Reggie Jackson for sixth on the career list and give him 200 with the Cardinals. He will also join Frank Robinson and Fred McGriff as the only players to hit 200 in each league.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
