The Impossible Return

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The Impossible Return is the name often associated with the Cleveland Indians’ 15-14 win over the Seattle Mariners on August 5, 2001 at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field. Notably, the Indians tied a Major League Baseball record by erasing a 12-run Seattle lead. Unlike other famous contests in Cleveland sports history, such as The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, The Catch, Red Right 88, or Game 7 of the ’97 World Series, this time around the Cleveland team was the victor. Thus, despite its relatively low profile as a regular season contest, the game is vividly remembered and beloved around the city to this day.

For Seattle fans, it is not only a source of angst because of the loss itself but for, had the Mariners held on, they would have broken the all-time Major League record for most wins in a season, instead of tying the 1906 Chicago Cubs with 116 wins. Some Mariners fans even point towards the Return as the emotional start of the organization's recent woes. [1]

1 Game summary
2 Starting lineups
3 Line score
4 External links

[edit] Game summary

[edit] A poor start

For Dave Burba, the Indians' starting pitcher, the game began well—no Mariner in the 1st inning reached base. The Indians also remained scoreless in their half of the 1st inning. The first trouble appeared in the 2nd, when Burba allowed four runs. Again, the Indians failed to do any damage against Seattle’s starting pitcher, Aaron Sele. Burba began the 3rd inning by allowing three consecutive hits, to Edgar Martinez, Al Martin, and John Olerud. Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel promptly replaced him with then-rookie pitcher Mike Bacsik.

Things did not improve at all for the Indians, as Bacsik allowed four more hits, walked one, and hit Tom Lampkin with a pitch. When he finally notched the third out in the inning, the Mariners had added eight runs to their total, pushing the score to a laughable 12-0.

Neither team scored again until the bottom of 4th inning, when a Jim Thome homer inched the Indians closer, 12-2. Seattle struck right back in the top of 5th, scoring two runs of their own and pushing their lead again to twelve runs. The game remained scoreless for next two innings.

[edit] Resting the starters

By the 5th inning, with the Mariners comfortably leading by 12 runs, both managers, Manuel and Lou Piniella, began to replace the starting players with their reserves. The only Cleveland starters to last the entire game were Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, Jim Thome, Marty Cordova, and Einar Díaz. Seattle’s starters who remained were Mark McLemore, Mike Cameron, Carlos Guillen, and David Bell.

[edit] Glimmers of hope

With a seemingly insurmountable lead in the bottom of the 7th inning, Sele remained in the game. He was replaced by John Halama after a Russell Branyan home run and subsequently loading the bases. Jolbert Cabrera followed with a two-RBI single off Halama, pushing the score to 14-5 in favor of the Mariners.

Following another scoreless frame by the Mariners, Halama gave up two solo home runs: Jim Thome’s second and Marty Cordova’s first. After allowing two more hits, this time singles to Einar Díaz and Kenny Lofton, Piniella yanked Halama in favor of Norm Charlton. The change did little good, as shortstop Omar Vizquel immediately doubled in Díaz. Fortunately for the Mariners, Lofton was thrown out attempting to score and Jolbert Cabrera struck out. After eight innings, the Indians only trailed by five runs—14-9.

Bacsik, despite his earlier troubles against the Mariners in the 3rd inning, remained on the mound for Cleveland. In the top of the 8th, he completed his third consecutive scoreless inning. While usually much cannot be said of a relief pitcher giving up seven runs in six innings pitched, Bascik performed admirably following his awful performance initially. Rich Rodríguez replaced Bascik in the top of the 9th, and he too held Seattle scoreless for an inning.

[edit] The miracle

With Charlton still pitching, the bottom of the ninth was led off by catcher Eddie Taubensee, who promptly singled. He was followed by Thome, who flied out softly to right. Russell Branyan struck out next. The Indians were still down by five, and found themselves literally down to their last strike. Marty Cordova doubled off the left field wall, missing a home run by a few feet. Jeff Nelson came in to relieve Charlton of his pitching duties. Wil Cordero, on a 3-2 count, walked to load up the bases. On yet another full count, Einar Díaz then singled to left field scoring, two runs. Kazuhiro Sasaki was then substituted in to relieve Nelson of his pitching duties. Kenny Lofton singled to center field, which loaded the bases for Omar Vizquel.

Vizquel appeared to strike out on a 3-1 count, but the umpire called it a ball and on a full count Vizquel - already having a big night - hit a triple down the right field line, past a diving Ed Sprague. All three runners scored and the game was tied at 14. With the winning run at third, Jolbert Cabrera grounded out softly to third on a close play.

Unbelievably the Indians had brought the game to extra innings. The 10th inning was scoreless, as was the top of the 11th. In the bottom of the 11th, the Indians made history. Jose Paniagua, on the mound for the Mariners, gave up consecutive singles to Lofton and Vizquel. With one out and runners on first and second, Cabrera smashed a broken-bat single to left field which brought home Lofton, thus completing the greatest comeback in Major League history.

Seattle - Aaron Sele
Cleveland - Dave Burba

[edit] Line score

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Seattle	0	4	8	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	17	0
Cleveland ◄	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	4	5	0	1	15	23	1
WP: John Rocker (3-4) LP: Jose Paniagua (3-3)
HRs: CLE – Jim Thome 2 (35, 36), Russell Branyan (15), Marty Cordova (13)