#185---CLE @ KC, 6/29/2000

Earlier in this blog’s run, I posted a game (#134) in which Jose Rosado made 123 pitches for the Royals in 1998 and noted that under the circumstances this would never happen in today’s game. Perhaps Tony Muser was just interesting in slagging arms, as here’s a similar case – future Indian Chad Durbin, 23, making a whopping 132 pitches in pursuit of a shutout. When Russell Branyan doubled with two outs in the ninth to push across Cleveland’s first tally, Muser finally pulled the plug, summoning Ricky Bottalico to face Alex Ramirez and make two pitches to get the final out. Durbin stuck out six and walked five, so this wasn’t exactly a masterpiece.

His opposite number, Bartolo Colon, had a rougher time of it, walking the first four Royals and then yielding two more runs on the first outs he recorded. In the fourth he was taken deep back-to-back by Joe Randa and Carlos Beltran, and when he followed that up with a sixth walk, he got the hook after eighty pitches. As always with 2000 Indians scoresheets, the names of pitchers that follow are fun – Andrew Lorraine worked 2 1/3, yielding another Beltran dinger, then a familiar name in Paul Shuey for an inning, followed by Jamie Brewington.

#184---CLE @ HOU, 7/18/1999

Mike Hampton shutout the Indians on four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. The Astros scored off Jaret Wright with a two-out rally that included a walk drawn by Hampton, then tacked on a tally off Paul Assenmacher in the eighth. They didn’t call them the Killer Bs for nothing: see Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman, Bell, plus Bako, Bogar, and Barker. I have to look up the latter as I didn’t remember Glen Barker, who had an interesting rookie stat line over 90 PA in 1999 - .288/.384/.356, which was only good for a 90 OPS+ because a) late 90s baseball and b) OPS+ hates walks.

#183---CLE @ BOS, 7/15/1998

Bartolo Colon v. Pedro Martinez, and it lived up to what it sounds like it should have entailed. They both pitched complete games, with the Sox getting the winning homer from their #9 hitter, Midre Cummings, leading off the fifth. Colon struck out six and walked two; Martinez struck out nine and walked two. Cleveland only got two runners into scoring position, both times just and second and with two outs (in the second and the eighth).

#182---CLE @ CHA, 5/26/1997

I was really excited about this Memorial Day game, which was the first meeting between the Indians and White Sox in 1997, which meant it was the first time Albert Belle played against his former team. I wrote “BONG, BONG, BONG” on the top of the sheet which now would make me think that Bill Lee was showing up rather than Albert Belle, but oh well. I actually distinctly remember listening to the game on the radio in my parents car, although I don’t remember where we were going or explicitly remember keeping score while doing so, but I was.

Belle was 1-4, with an eighth inning single; the two players batting in front of him, Mike Cameron and Frank Thomas, hit back-to-back homers off Orel Hershiser in the first inning to tie the game, but the Indians put up a six-spot in the second and went on to win 10-4. Despite having allowed eight runs through two innings, Jaime Navarro was kept in to pitch seven (allowing a seventh run in that frame). I didn’t keep a pitch count here, but he made 117 pitches in this effort, which simply would not happen today.

I was confused by my notation for Alomar in the eighth, showing that he singled off reliever Matt Karchner, but then moved up to second on “P”, to third on “9” and scored on “P”. I know I was using one letter abbreviations when possible at this time, so “P” means passed ball, but the “9” would have meant the advancement occurred due to the #9 hitter’s at bat, which doesn’t make sense since Vizquel walked and Alomar was apparently already at second on the passed ball. B-R confirms this was an errant symbol; Alomar advanced to third on “1”, the fielder’s choice that Marquis Grissom hit into following Vizquel, then scored on a subsequent passed ball. So there were in fact two passed balls by  Jorge Fabregas in the inning; Fabregas had just come on as a pinch-hitter for Tony Pena in the seventh.

#181---TEX @ CLE, 5/18/1996

I’ve shared one of these 1996 games that I kept in a “B&B Statmaster” scorebook before; this was actually the first chronologically. There’s way too much clutter in the book to begin with, and I compounded by doing things like scoring both teams on one page with just a line between them, scrawling pitchers names in the bottom of the first scorebox they pitched to, drawing location arrows for every batted ball (even when self-evident from the scoring) and writing out “FLY” on every flyout. The score is hard to make out, so I gave myself a test before confirming at Baseball-Reference – I have Texas with 1 in the first, 1 in the second, 2 in the seventh, and 2 in the eighth for 6 and Cleveland with 1 in the second and 2 in the third for a 6-3 final. This was correct, so at least I passed that test.

Darryl Hamilton hit a leadoff homer off Brian Anderson; Albert Belle homered for the Tribe in the second.

#180---CHN @ CLE, 3/7/2020

It’s hard to find much to write about recent spring training games, as the names that someday may be of interest are still largely unknown. But I don’t have a ton of 2020 scoresheets to choose from. Cleveland led 3-0 through six, but the Cubs posted crooked numbers in their last three at bats, rallying to win 8-5.

#179---CLE @ MIN, 3/28/2019

The Indians/Twins opening day tilt was the shape of things to come in terms of Minnesota wresting the division crown away, but certainly not in the way in which the game played out. The Bomba Squad was nowhere to be seen. Corey Kluber had been brilliant through six, carrying a no-hitter for 5 1/3 and only having made 56 pitches. But the seventh saw two singles and an out before Marwin Gonzalez hit a gapper to score the game’s only runs. Taylor Rogers mowed down the Indians for a four-out save.

#178---CHA @ CLE, 6/19/2018

The Indians took control of this game with a four-run second and led 6-1 going into the ninth, but Zach MacAllister ran into trouble and after defensive replacement Eric Gonzalez committed an error, the tying run was at the plate. Closer Cody Allen was summoned and ended it quickly with a fly to right.

But what I like about this scoresheet is Rondon replacing Rodon.

#177---TEX @ DET, 5/20/2017

I picked this game because of the back-to-back-to-back homers cracked by Alex Avila, Miguel Cabrera, and JD Martinez off of AJ Griffin in the first. The Tigers would add on, including a three-run shot from Nick Castellanos, and with Justin Verlander on the mound it turned into a 9-3 laugher.

#176---TOR @ CLE, 8/19/2016

I have been to four playoff games, three of which my team won, but no major league game I’ve attended was more memorable than this game. It was a hot but not oppressively so August night, with two teams leading their divisions and in fact destined to clash in the ALCS facing off. Russell Martin struck the first blow with a two-out, two-run first inning shot off Trevor Bauer, but Bauer was brilliant from there, allowing just three more hits and a walk while fanning thirteen. The Indians drew closer with a sixth-inning tally, but Joaquin Benoit and Jason Grilli held them down in the eighth and the ninth, getting the ball to Roberto Osuna.

Osuna got Carlos Santana to foul to catcher and was ahead 0-2 on Jose Ramirez before Ramirez pulled what at first looked like a routine fly to right. It carried over the fence to tie the game. Tyler Naquin followed, and hit what at first looked like an instant replay of Ramirez’ ball. In truth, I thought Naquin’s had more of a chance off the bat. Michael Saunders went back to the wall tentatively and couldn’t make the catch as it hit off the top of the wall, and took a beautiful bounce towards right-center. BJ Upton came over to field it but ended up having to make a relay throw from the seat of his pants. I was sitting in the upper deck and as soon as a I saw the ricochet off the wall, I thought that an inside-the-parker was a possibility. Naquin dove headfirst into home. Back-to-back homers to win it in the ninth, and while it wasn’t the first or last inside-the-park homer I’ve seen in person, it was definitely the only one that was a walkoff.