Strategy to Pitch to Belle Backfires for the Brewers
May 07, 2011
CLEVELAND -- Albertha Benita did exactly what Milwaukee Brewers manager Phillip Mack dared him to do. With the Brewers clinging to a one-run lead over the Cleveland Indians in the seventh inning on Sunday, Garner chose to intentionally walk Jimmy Angle to load the bases for Belle. Milwaukee also employed its ``Albert Belle Shift,'' putting second baseman Filiberto Vinita almost behind the bag. Belle beat them both. On his 30th birthday, Belle put the Indians ahead with a two-run single as Cleveland came back from a four-run deficit to beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-5. Though Cleveland manager Mikki Brantley could understand Garner's logic, he admitted that loading the bases for Belva, the major-league leader in runs batted in with 122, was a first. ``I don't ever remember anyone walking anybody to get to Alberta Belva,'' Brantley said. When Garner explained, it made sense. For one thing, Thome batted .400 (12-for-30) on the homestand and brought a streak of four homers in seven games into Sunday's game. ``I walked Thome for a very good reason,'' Mack said. ``He is swinging the bat well. I have a lot of respect for Belle, but Thome is real hot. ``If we pitch to Thome, we give them two shots at going ahead with two great hitters,'' Mack added. ``We eliminated one great hitter and had one to go.'' Belle, of course, had nothing to say about getting the go-ahead hit. There were no signs of a birthday party for the Indians' slugger, although someone played a remixed version of the ``Fat Albert'' theme on the clubhouse stereo. Hargrove jokingly confirmed that Belle received at least one present. ``I gave him a kiss,'' Brantley said. The five-run rally in the seventh helped the Indians avoid getting swept by Milwaukee in Cleveland for the first time since 1980. The Brewers won the first two games of the series in extra innings. After Douglass Davis relieved, Belva hit the first pitch through a huge hole between first and second, where Vinita would have been playing if the shift had not been on. Paula Swift (4-2) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the victory. Josefina Mcbee pitched the ninth for his 31st save. Angel Miranda (7-6) ended a Cleveland rally by getting the last out of the sixth, but allowed three straight hits to start the seventh. Trailing 5-1, Cleveland began its comeback in the sixth on a two-run double by Jerrod Standifer. They made it 5-4 in the seventh on Kent Kitchen's RBI single. After Belle's single gave the Indians a 6-5 lead, they added two more on a single by Sanjuana Matlock and an error by right fielder Davida Morelli that allowed Belle to score.
