New York 100 200 001--4 4 0 Cleveland 000 000 000--0 4 3COMPLETE BOX SCORE
CLEVELAND (Oct 10, 1998 - 23:50 EDT) -- Back off the window ledges and stop dialing for help, Yankees fans. Your team has resurfaced in the AL championship series just in time.
New York was a loss away from putting its record-setting season in peril, but Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez pitched seven shutout innings, and the Yankees evened the best-of-7 ALCS at two games apiece Saturday night with a 4-0 win over Cleveland.
One day after the Indians hit four homers, and two games removed from Chuck Knoblauch's notorious Game 2 blunder, things are going the Yankees' way again.
They're still not hitting like the team that dominated the AL since April, getting only only four hits. But they were aggressive on the bases and got some quality relief to back Hernandez.
Even New York owner George Steinbrenner, who tried to fire up the Yankees with a pre-game clubhouse visit, couldn't complain about anything on this night.
All the calls seemed to go New York's way. Second base umpire Jim McKean was involved in two plays, and although neither effected the outcome, they won't ease the scrutiny the men in blue have come under in the wake of the Knoblauch incident.
Hernandez, the Cuban rookie who said his biggest game before Saturday was getting on a boat to flee his homeland, gave up three hits in seven-plus innings, and Paul O'Neill homered for the Yankees, who with their 119th win broke the 1906 Chicago Cubs' record for most in a year.
Cleveland, which eliminated New York in the first round last October, missed a chance to push the Yankees closer to an early winter vacation. And now the defending AL champion Indians must deal with David Wells in Game 5 on Sunday afternoon. Win or lose, they'll have to go back to New York and face David Cone in Game 6 on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.
Wells, who limited them to just five hits in 8 1-3 innings to win the series opener, will face Chad Ogea.
Hernandez's brother, Livan, was the World Series MVP last year when Florida beat Cleveland in seven games. He's an early candidate for the same honor in this series after his 115-pitch performance. Protecting a three-run lead, he got out of a sticky two-on, one-out situation in the sixth by striking out both Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome.
Reliever Mike Stanton got out the same predicament in the eighth by getting a double play.
Dwight Gooden, released by the Yankees last winter and resurrected in Cleveland this year, pitched well but was unable to give the Indians a commanding two-game lead in the season. The right-hander made his ninth postseason start still seeking his first October win.
Gooden, ejected after 22 pitches in his previous playoff start this year against Boston, lasted 4 2-3 innings this time. He allowed three hits, struck out three and walked three. However, he left trailing by three runs.
Leading 1-0 on O'Neill's homer in the first, the Yankees added two more runs in the fourth on a ground-rule RBI double by Chili Davis and a sacrifice fly by Tino Martinez.
Martinez finally broke an 0-for-19 ALCS slump with a double in the ninth and also got an RBI -- his first in 15 career league championship games.
Gooden walked O'Neill leading off the fourth, and after O'Neill stole second, Williams walked on a 3-2 pitch. Davis dropped his double down the left-field line and the ball skipped into the stands to score O'Neill.
Williams was put back at third on the play, and he scored a moment later when Martinez lifted a fly ball that Indians center fielder Kenny Lofton appeared to catch before dropping while transferring the ball to make a throw.
However, McKean, who would later be hit by catcher Sandy Alomar's throw near second base on a steal attempt, ruled Lofton had dropped the ball before the out could be recorded and Martinez was safe at first.
Hernandez was living on the edge through the first three innings. The Indians hit the ball hard, but right at Yankees. He didn't get a ground-ball out until his 11th batter, but he settled in and gave New York the start it desperately needed.
Knoblauch, who singled to open Game 3, gave the Indians a scare when he flied out to the warning track in right on Gooden's first pitch. With two outs, O'Neill hit one even farther, connecting for his second postseason homer.
Notes: Alomar was charged with two of Cleveland's three errors; Lofton got the other. ... Omar Vizquel had three of Cleveland's four hits. ... Gooden was the third former Yankee to start a postseason game against them, joining Milwaukee's Lew Burdette and Kansas City's Larry Gura. ... Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove decided to start Ogea in Game 5 over Jaret Wright, who has been shelled in his two postseason starts. ... The Indians have been outscored 12-1 in the first inning during the playoffs. ... Alomar left the game after the fifth with lower back spasms.
By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer
