Following two important series wins against American League East foes, the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and Toronto Blue Jays in the Bronx, the Yankees stayed at home to face Cleveland in what would be a more important series than everyone would realize at the time.
The Yankees wanted to keep their seven-game lead in the AL East, and a double-digit loss in the first game was not an ideal way to start the series. However, with Orlando “El Duque” Hernández on the mound in the midst of an already impressive
September, fans in attendance were going to witness what was arguably his best performance of the season.
September 16: Yankees 6, Cleveland 3 (box score)
Record: 85-61 (1st in AL East, 7.5 games ahead)
Hernández began his day with three straight flyouts, and Cleveland starter Jason Bere began the game with a leadoff walk to Chuck Knoblauch, but had no issues through the rest of the bottom half of the inning. And after his one-two-three first inning, El Duque did it again in the top of the second before the Yankees’ offense opened the scoring.
With one out in the second, it was up to Glenallen Hill, who saw one pitch from Bere and sent a solo home run over the left field fence at Yankee Stadium. But the Bombers weren’t done there. In fact, following the home run, Bere allowed five straight players to reach base, with Luis Polonia getting caught stealing at second base before the bases were loaded for Luis Sojo, slotted in as the number two hitter in the lineup. The Yankees shortstop delivered, sending a groundball single through the infield, scoring Scott Brosius and Clay Bellinger, who had walked and singled, respectively.
With a 3-0 lead, Hernández returned to the mound and worked two more perfect innings before the Yankees added on two more tallies in the bottom of the fourth. Knoblauch walked with two outs, and it was Sojo once again coming through with a huge triple. David Justice followed that triple up with a double of his own, and the Yankees had a comfortable 5-0 lead.
It wasn’t until the top of the fifth inning that El Duque allowed a baserunner via a two-out single. However, he took care of the third and final batter with no issues and kept the train moving along.
Posada joined the fun in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff solo home run, and that would be all the runs the Yankees would score for the rest of the game. Considering the lead and the way their starter was performing both recently and throughout the game, there shouldn’t have been much to worry about.
Cleveland scored on a solo home run to start the top of the sixth inning thanks to Russell Branyan, but El Duque would not give up another run until the top of the ninth, giving up a two-run home run to Manny Ramirez. The Yankees starter would finish the game with under 100 pitches following the last out, a pop-up from Jim Thome. Though the final score, 6-3, appeared nominally close, the Yankees truly cruised the whole way, with Hernández going the distance.
It was a tale of two pitching staffs in the game, as Cleveland would end up using six different arms across the game to try to thwart the Yankees’ offense, while Hernández handled all the work on the other side. For at least a day, the Yankees were able to shake off a short losing streak and maintain their sizeable advantage in the AL East.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
