Leading Off An Incredible Summer: Opening Night In 1995

As the Indians prepare to play their 114th opening night in it’s history, they will do so in the same state they opened the 1995 season: Texas. With big expectations placed upon the club from the media, it’s fitting they start the season in a state where everything is bigger.

It is a miracle the 1995 season started to begin with. The season prior was cut short due to a ferocious work stoppage in an labor dispute between the players union and the owners. It caused the 1994 postseason and World Series to be cancelled along with the delaying of spring training in 1995. When the dust settled and the real players returned to the field, they did so in a shortened regular season due to the strike.

The owners agreed to the player’s union commands right before the regular season was scheduled to begin. Spring training was pushed back to April so the players could properly prepare for the season. To prevent playing postseason games in mid-November, Major League Baseball decided to cut the season short again- this time cutting off the first two-and-a-half weeks off the schedule to compensate; only 144 games would be played and not the full 162.

The season schedule started on April 27 – the beginning of a four-game series against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. It was a mild Texas night; clear with a cool breeze breeze flying out towards right field. The Ballpark In Arlington was entering into it’s second full season, just as Jacob’s Field was, and was certainly state of the art. It was Jerry’s World before Jerry Jones even thought of building a new stadium.

The Indians were coming off an outstanding ’94 campaign, although they would have nothing to show for it because of the strike. They finished the shortened season 67-46- one game behind central division leading Chicago White Sox. The Indians were, however, leading the Baltimore Orioles by two games in the loss column for the newly formed Wild Card postseason spot and charging fast. All their young talent was returning in ’95 to finish where they left off.

On the other hand, the Rangers had a very strange season in ’94. They would end up finishing 52-62 – one game a head of the Oakland Athletics for the western division lead. Unlike the Tribe, the Rangers did make some moves prior to the start of the season. They fired general manager Tom Grieve and replaced field manager Kevin Kennedy with Jerry Narron. They also re-tooled on the field: Adding veterans Otis Nixon and Mickey Tettleton and giving rookie shortstop Benji Gil an opportunity to play everyday. They also let starting pitcher Kenny Rogers leave via free agency and gave another young pitcher, Rick Helling, a shot to take command of the rotation.

Here are the starting lineups for the game, courtesy of Baseball Reference:

Kevin Gross, the starting pitcher for the Rangers, had just singed a free agent contract after four solid years in the National League with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was brought in to solidify a rocky pitching staff that ranked fourth worst with a 5.04 FIP in ’94. What is telling about the pitching staff is that the Rangers elected to make Gross their opening day starter; he immediately was the best starter they had before the ink dried on the contract.

The top of the first was uneventful for the Indians offense, certainly not a precursor of what was to come during the rest of the season. A full explanation of these numbers can be read over at Baseball Reference :

Kenny Lofton and Omar Vizquel hit the ball hard but with nothing to show.

The bottom of the first did not go 1-2-3 for the Tribe’s defense:

After the Jeff Frye double in the left-center gap, Will Clark hit a ground ball to the shortstop Vizquel who made a rare throwing error to first allowing Frye to score an unearned run from second.

The Indians, which they would do all season long, would answer quickly in the top of the second:

The Indians brought seven men to the plate and got back into the game by scoring quick- a staple of what would become one of the best offenses in baseball history. Albert Belle, who would go on to be the first player in baseball history to hit 50 HR’s and 50 2B in a single season, would lead off the inning with a single. He advanced to second on a wild-pitch to Jim Thome and scored on a Manny Ramirez single up the middle. The next batter, Paul Sorrento got the green light on a 3-0 pitch and hit it down the RF line for a two-run HR. This put the Indians up 3-1 heading to the bottom of second.

Indians starter Dennis Martinez sat the Rangers down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning: two ground-ball outs and a swinging strikeout to the heart of the Rangers order.

The offense broke the game wide open in the the top of the third in quintessential fashion: with power.

Vizquel and Carlos Baerga led off the inning with back-to-back singles setting the table for Belle- the most feared hitter in baseball in ’95. On a 1-1 pitch, Gross attempted to throw a change-up to fool Belle to no avail. Belle hit a three-run HR to the opposite field making putting the Tribe up 6-1.

The home-run would be a sign of things to come for Belle in ’95. Burning River Baseball will go into greater detail as we continue our discussion on the ’95 team throughout the course of it’s 20th year anniversary but here is a quick synopsis of his stats from that season: This was his first of 50 HR’s he would hit on the shortened season along with 52 2B’s, 126 RBI, a .317/.401/.690 line while producing slightly over seven wins- all offensively. He would eventually get slighted in the MVP vote- losing to Mo Vaughn (.300/.388/.575) by one first-place vote.

The Indians did not end the scoring with Belle’s home-run, though. Gross once again found himself behind in the count to the next hitter, Eddie Murray, 1-0. Gross tried to throw a “get me over” four seam fastball to stop the bleeding but Murray made him pay. He drove Gross’s inside fastball over the right-field wall for a solo home-run, adding to the Indians lead. This offensive outburst showed the rest of the league that the Indians had every intent on “wrecking” the league that season as all the damage was done with no outs.

They were not done.

The Tribe would later tack on two more runs in the half inning. Thome would reach first base after striking out on a passed ball from Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez. Ramirez would double home Thome; knocking starter Gross out of the game after just 59 pitches and putting the Indians ahead 8-1. The second run came when Kenny Lofton sacrificed Ramirez home from third, bringing the score to 9-1. They started the half-inning with a 73% chance of winning the game and ended with a 96% chance.

The opener was all but over at that point.

Indians starter Martinez would throw four more innings while only giving up one more earned-run, a solo home-run to Rangers first-baseman Will Clark to lead off the bottom-half of the fourth.

Here is Martinez’s final line from the day- a solid outing from the Indians number one starter going into the season:

Wilson Heredia, who relieved Gross in the bottom of the third, would go on to pitch four solid innings in relief- the only run coming on a fifth inning home-run to Ramirez, putting the Indians up 10-2.

Southpaw Dennis Cook would relive Martinez to begin the Rangers bottom of the seventh and not have a productive inning. Ironically, Cook would wind up pitching for Texas later in the season when the Indians would eventually trade him for minor-leaguer Guillermo Mercedes on June 22nd.

He allowed back-to-back hits to Dean Palmer and Mark McLemore after recording the first out. After a sacrifice ground-out which moved both runners into scoring position from Benji Gil, Cook gave up an RBI single to the lefty Nixon making the score 10-4 in favor of the Tribe.

Cook started the Rangers bottom of the eighth to face the lefty Clark and switch-hitting Tettleton. Although he would hit Clark with the first pitch thrown, he forced Tettleton to hit into a classic 6-4-3 double play. However, he would walk Pudge Rodriguez and give up a two-run home-run to Greer making the score 10-6. Cook would leave the game immediately after, giving up four earned runs in only 1 2/3 innings thrown. A sign of things to come with Cook for the season.

The Indians would add one more run in the ninth on a solo home-run off the bat of Carlos Baerga on an 0-2 change-up to lead off the inning.

The final score was 11-6 in favor of the Tribe. It would be the first of 100 victories for them on the season which would later include a trip to the World Series. Opening night showcased how deadly explosive the Indians offense would be. Along with the offensive showcase, the pitching showed it would uphold it’s end of the bargain by providing a solid effort.

An indication how the season goes typically does not begin with the opening night performance.

This one, however, was the exception to the norm.