In the middle of the 7th inning of game 1, the Indians trailed the Sox 2-0 behind a 2-run Mike Greenwell homer in the 6th. The Indians scored 1 run in each of the final 3 innings, to win 3-2. Kenny Lofton had a one out triple in the bottom of the ninth and scored on Omar Vizquel's walk-off single off of Stan Belinda.
In game 2, the Red Sox returned the favor, scoring 2 runs in the 8th on a Tim Naehring homerun. Erik Hanson got the win for the Sox and Belinda and Rick Aguilera both had scoreless innings to close it out and send the Sox back to Boston with a tied series.
In game 3, the Indians scored three runs in the 5th against Tim Wakefield to break the game open. They ended up winning 4-1. Naehring hit another homerun.
Game 4 was a back and forth affair. The Indians got off to a 3-0 lead in the 5th off of an RBI single by Kenny Lofton and a 2-run single by Omar Vizquel. The Red Sox got one back in the 6th off of a Mo Vaughn solo homer and then tied it up on a 2 run double by Luis Alicea in the 7th. The game remained tied until the 11th. The Red Sox went to game 2 starter Erik Hanson out of the pen in the 11th and then a Jim Thome double scored Manny Ramirez and Herb Perry scored on a Hanson wild pitch. Back to back singles by Jose Canseco and Mike Greenwell off of Jose Mesa in the bottom of the 11th would bring Tim Naehring up as the winning run. But Mesa would strike out Naehring and pinch hitter Matt Stairs to send the Indians to American League Championship Series.
Offensively, the Indians were paced by Jim Thome (6-12, 2 2B, 3 R), Manny Ramirez (7-17), and Albert Belle (5-14, 2 2B). Amazingly, the Indians, who led all of baseball with 207 regular season homeruns, hit a grand total of ZERO homeruns in the ALDS. The Indians were aided by a team ERA of 2.61.
The Red Sox were led offensively by Jose Canseco (6-15, 3 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI) and Tim Naehring, who slugged .688.
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