Tribe takes 3 of 5 from Brew Crew

Aug 10, 1981 - Municipal Stadium

Mike Caldwell vs Steve Garland

Indians 6, Brewers 5

To call Wayne Garland the biggest free agent bust in Tribe history would be an understatement.  Garland parlayed a 20-7 season in 1976 in Baltimore into a multi-year / multi-million dollar contract in Cleveland.  In year won he led the league in losses (13-19).  Year two he only started 6 game.  Year three he was 4-10 and Year four he was 6-9.  1981 is his make or break year with the Tribe.  Lasting only 3 innings in the team's first game back from the strike was not exactly putting his best foot forward.  Garland would give up 4 runs (3 earned) in 3 innings where he faced 17 batters and allowed 7 hits.  By the time he hit the pine the Tribe was down 4-0.  To their credit, the Indian offense coupled with a great effort by the pen battled back.  Heading into the bottom of the 9th they were down by 1, but they were facing arguably the best reliever in baseball, Rollie Fingers.  Miguel Dilone led off the inning with a clean single to right.  Toby Harrah pushed Dilone up 90 feet on a ground out.  The "Human Rain Delay", Mike Hargrove singled to center to put runners on the corners, but DH Andre Thornton struck out for the 3rd time today for out number two.  It all came down to Fingers vs lefty hitting Jorge Orta.  Orta came out on top when he deposited a hump back liner just over the outstretched arms of shortstop Robin Yount to tie the game up at 5-5.  Catcher Bo Diaz followed with a one hopper to Ted Simmons, who normally doesn't play first.  Simmons booted the ball, which allowed Diaz to reach first safely and Dilone to trot home with the winning run.

Aug 11, 1981

Pete Vuckovich vs Bert Blyleven

Brewers 3, Indians 1

Vuke and Bert dueled it out for 7 innings before the former left the game.  Blyleven continued on in this 1-1 contest, but was victimized by a Gorman Thomas 2 run double, which made it 3-1.  Rollie Fingers would pitch the final 2 innings in relief to redeem himself from yesterday's debacle and not his 1st save of the second half.  Blyleven fanned 8, walked 3 and allowed just 3 runs in his complete game loss.  Jamie Easterly earned the win with 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Vuke.

Aug 12, 1981 - Game 1 of DH

Moose Haas vs Len Barker

Brewers 4, Indians 0

Moose Haas needed just 100 pitches to toss a tidy 3 hit shutout against the Tribe.  Len Barker was victimized by a huge error from his shortsop Tom Veryzer in the top of the 6th, which allowed 3 runs to score.  Cecil Cooper went 3 for 4 for the Brew Crew and scored 2 runs.  Mike Hargrove had 2 of Cleveland's 3 hits.  No Cleveland runner advanced past second.

Aug 12, 1981 - Game 2 of DH

Randy Lerch vs John Denny

Indians 6, Brewers 2

Paul Molitor's two out RBI single scored Charlie Moore all the way from second to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead, which Randy Lerch would hold until the bottom of the 4th.  Cleveland would strike back with 3 runs in the 4th to take a 2 run lead.  Miguel Dilone's 2 run double was the key hit that inning.  In the 7th the Tribe would bust the game wide open with one swing of the bat.  1980 Rookie of the Year, Joe Charboneau...purple hair and all finally got his bat working again with a bases clearing double that added 3 runs to Cleveland's ledger and made the score 6-1.  John Denny would end his day on the hill with 1 out in the 8th and only 1 run allowed.  Sid Monge would finish out the game in a no save situation by getting the final 5 outs while yielding just 1 meaningless run.

Aug 13, 1981

Jim Slaton vs Tom Brennan

Indians 6, Brewers 5 (10 inn)

Both starters (Slaton and Brennan) were inefective at best in their attempts to hold opposition hitters at bay.  Down 5-3 in the 7th the Tribe replaced Brennan with Mike Stanton who pitched 3 scoreless innings, while fanning 3 and walking none.  Stanton performance was just the tonic that the Tribe needed.  Rollie Fingers, on the other hand, reverted back to his game 1 format by allowing 3 runs (2 earned) in just under 3 innings of work.  In the 8th the man with the handlebar mustache gave up 2 runs, which allowe Cleveland to tie up the game.  Mike Hargrove's RBI single scored Miguel Dilone and a passed ball charged to Charlie Moore allowed Toby Harrah to score the game tying run.  Neither team scored in the 9th, despite the fact that the Brewers had runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out.  Milwaukee also had their leadoff man (Jim Gantner) on first in the top of the 10th, but once again failed to bring the go ahead run home.  The Tribe would manufacture a run and a victory on the legs of one Miguel Dilone, who led off the bottom of the 10th with an infield single, the stole second.  With 2 out and a 2 strike count on Jorge Orta it looked like Dilone would be stranded at second.  Orta battled his way back until he found a pitch he could hand and finally sliced a ball just inside the chalk on the left field line for the walk off hit.