New York 310 100 000--5 6 0 Cleveland 200 001 000--3 8 0COMPLETE BOX SCORE
CLEVELAND (Oct 11, 1998 - 21:14 EDT) -- The Yankees came to town distracted, in disarray and near disaster.
They're heading home in control and in reach of their ultimate goal -- a trip to the World Series.
David Wells pitched well enough to win, Chili Davis drove in three runs and Mariano Rivera got out of a hairy eighth inning Sunday as the Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians 5-3 to take a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series.
New York saved its record-setting season with two wins this weekend at Jacobs Field, where its season ended last year. Now, the Yankees are one victory away from the season's final destination and the only place their fans will allow their magical year to finish.
And for all his griping about the urgency to flee the Bronx and build a new ballpark, even New York owner George Steinbrenner will be happy to see the old neighborhood again.
Rivera, who gave up the eighth-inning homer to Sandy Alomar here last year in Game 4 that swung the series to Cleveland, this time got his team to the ninth.
After Wells was pulled with one out in the eighth and New York leading 5-3, Jeff Nelson came on and hit Travis Fryman. Manny Ramirez singled and New York manager Joe Torre summoned for Rivera, who was also brought in with one out in the eighth last year before yielding Alomar's homer.
This time was different, though. Rivera got Mark Whiten to hit into an inning-ending double play that brought the Yankees charging out of the dugout.
Now the Indians, whose lineup looked more like the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons than the defending AL champs on Sunday and who got an early bad-break bounce in Game 5, face the awesome task of trying to win twice in Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees, who won 62 home games during the regular season, will start David Cone on Tuesday in Game 6 against Charles Nagy.
With the Yankees trailing in the series Saturday, Wells, who easily handled the Indians in Game 1, asked New York manager if he could pitch Game 4. An amused Torre said no, and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez took care of the Indians Saturday.
Wells, who entered the game 6-1 in the postseason in his career and 3-0 vs. Cleveland, figured to be a lot for the Indians to handle. And their task got tougher when Alomar and David Justice were scratched from the lineup because of injuries and Indians manager Mike Hargrove was forced start three rookies.
Wells struggled early, allowing two runs in the first but once the left-hander settled in, he gave up just Jim Thome's homer in the sixth and finished with a personal postseason record 11 strikeouts.
Hargrove elected to start Chad Ogea, who won two World Series game the Indians last year, over Jaret Wright. Wright had been rocked by Boston in his first playoff start against Boston and again in Game 1 at New York.
But Ogea didn't fare much better, failing to get out of the second inning after giving up four runs and four hits in 1 1-3 innings with three walks and two hit batters. Wright came in and allowed one run and two hits in six innings but walked seven.
There was a whole ballgame crammed into a 40-minute first inning. The Yankees spent 22 minutes scoring three runs against Ogea on two hit batters, two grounders off Cleveland infielder's gloves and an RBI groundout.
With Chuck Knoblauch at first and one out, Ogea got Paul O'Neill to hit a bouncer toward the middle. Ogea instinctively reached for the ball and deflected it past shortstop Omar Vizquel, who was covering as Knoblauch broke on the pitch, into left field.
Had Ogea not touched it, Vizquel would have likely turned a double play and the Indians would have been out of the inning. Instead, after Bernie Williams walked, Davis hit a bouncer that tipped off first baseman Richie Sexson's glove and into right for a two-run single.
After Ogea hit Tino Martinez, Tim Raines brought in New York's third run with a groundout and the Indians' first-inning playoff troubles continued. They've now been outscored 15-3 in the first this postseason.
Wells cooled off after his pregame warmup watching his teammates, and the Indians scored two runs in the bottom of the inning. Kenny Lofton led off with a homer just inside the pole in right and after two singles, two steals and a wild pitch, Ramirez's sacrifice fly brought Cleveland within 3-2.
The Yankees came back with a run in the second to chase Ogea on O'Neill's RBI single, and Davis' two-out homer in the fourth made it 5-3.
Notes: The Indians are a combined 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in Games 4 and 5. ... Herb Score's wife, Nancy, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Score, a former Indian pitcher and long-time announcer for the club, was critically injured in a car accident this week. ... Alomar was out with back spasms and Justice had a bruised right forearm after being hit with a pitch in Game 4. ... Vizquel barehanded Chili Davis' grounder to start a 6-4-3 double play to end the second. Vizquel has now gone 46 straight postseason games without an error.
