The #1 seed Cleveland Indians played the #4 seed Philadelphia Phillies in
a Semi-final round best-of-7 playoff series. The first two games were to be
played in Cleveland, games 3-5 in Philadelphia, and games 6 and 7 in
Cleveland, if necessary. The winner would be playing in the 1998 CBML World
Series.
GAME 1
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Inning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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Philadelphia 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 9 0
Cleveland 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 1
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Starting Pitchers: Philadelphia - Kirk Rueter
New York(NL) - Greg Maddux
WP - Kirk Rueter (1-0) LP - Greg Maddux (0-1) S - Randy Myers (1)
E: Philadelphia - None
Cleveland - Kurt Abbott
HR: Philadelphia - None
Cleveland - Jeff Bagwell
INJURIES: Philadelphia - None
Cleveland - Ken Griffey - remainder of game
Highlights: Jeff Bagwell led off the bottom of the 1st with a HR to
give the Indians a 1-0 lead. A Pat Borders triple and
Reggie Jefferson sac fly tied the game after 2. The
Phillies scored two more in the 3rd off Maddux, and
Rueter, Percival, Remlinger, Montgomery, and Myers made
it stand as the Indians could only manage 4 hits in the
game.
GAME 2
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Inning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
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Philadelphia 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 5 0
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Starting Pitchers: Philadelphia - Garrett Stephenson
New York(NL) - Wilson Alvarez
WP - Rod Beck (1-0) LP - Randy Myers (0-1)
E: Philadelphia - None
Cleveland - None
HR: Philadelphia - Dave Hollins
Cleveland - Ken Griffey
INJURIES: Philadelphia - Joey Cora - 2 days
Cleveland - None
Highlights: Solo HRs by Dave Hollins and Ken Griffey were all of the
runs scored through 9 innings. In the bottom of the 10th,
Ray Durham suicide squeezed home Ivan Rodriguez with one
out and the bases loaded to even the series at one game a
piece. The Dave Hollins HR was the only hit of the game
for the Phillies.
GAME 3
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Inning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1
Philadelphia 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 2 2 0
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Starting Pitchers: Cleveland - Alan Benes
Philadelphia - Ismael Valdes
WP - Ismael Valdes (1-0) LP - Alan Benes (0-1) S - Randy Myers (2)
E: Cleveland - Jeff Cirillo
Philadelphia - None
HR: Cleveland - None
Philadelphia - None
INJURIES: Cleveland - None
Philadelphia - None
Highlights: A walk, error, and 2-out DeShields single scored the first
run for Philadelphia in the 2nd inning. 3 walks and a
Lankford single scored the last run of the game in the 5th
inning. The story of this game was pitching as Valdes
pitched a strong 8.1 innings for the Phillies, and Benes
and the Cleveland bullpen held Philadelphia to two hits in
the game. Randy Myers got the final two outs to earn a save.
GAME 4
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Inning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
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Cleveland 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 5 7 2
Philadelphia 0 0 4 4 0 4 1 3 - 13 17 0
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Starting Pitchers: Cleveland - Greg Maddux
Philadelphia - Mike Remlinger
WP - Mike Remlinger (1-0) LP - Paul Byrd (0-1)
E: Cleveland - Edgardo Alfonzo, Jeff Bagwell
Philadelphia - None
HR: Cleveland - None
Philadelphia - Jim Thome (2)
INJURIES: Cleveland - Greg Maddux - 4 days
Philadelphia - None
Highlights: The injury bug hit Greg Maddux in game 4 of a series again
as he went down for the series in the 2nd inning. With
Maddux out, Philadelphia teed off against the Cleveland
bullpen as they scored 4 times in the 3rd, 4th, and 6th,
and added 3 more in the 8th. The 16-5 victory gave the
underdog Phillies a 3 games to 1 lead in the series.
GAME 5
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Inning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E
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Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 8 0
Philadelphia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 6 0
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Starting Pitchers: Cleveland - Wilson Alvarez
Philadelphia - Kirk Rueter
WP - Randy Myers (1-0) LP - Rod Beck (0-1)
E: Cleveland - None
Philadelphia - None
HR: Cleveland - None
Philadelphia - Jeff Blauser
INJURIES: Cleveland - Ken Griffey - 3 days
Philadelphia - None
Highlights: Once again, pitching was the story of the game as it was
scoreless into the 11th inning. Also, Griffey was hurt
for the rest of the series in the 8th inning. The Indians
scored the first run of the game in the top of the 11th on
a 2-out double by Chad Curtis. Rod Beck came in to save
the game in the bottom of the 11th for the Tribe. Dunston
led off the inning with a single, was sac'ed to second by
Hollins, and scored on a 2-out single by Carlos Hernandez
to tie the game. In the bottom of the 12th with one out,
Jeff Blauser homered to win the game and the series for the
Phillies.