CLEVELAND - The weather was frightful. The wind blew. The temperature dipped to 29 F with the wind-chill factor. But when the night was over, the Cleveland Indians were feeling all warm inside.

In a night of many comebacks, the Indians beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6 in 11 innings of tension-filled baseball before a sellout crowd. The Braves still lead the World Series two games to one.

Eddie Murray's RBI single against Alejandro Pena finally ended four-plus hours of turnabout play. The Indians couldn't hold a 4-1 lead, and they spit up a 5-3 lead in the eighth. Then the Braves failed to hold a 6-5 lead in the eighth.

 

That set the stage for the decisive 11th. By then the Braves had used up Mark Wohlers through 2 2/3 innings. So they had to go to Pena. Carlos Baerga opened the inning with a double. Albert Belle got an intentional walk.

 

Then Murray slashed the first pitch he saw into centre field, sending the crowd into a delirious celebration."This is a huge win emotionally and physically,'' said Indians manager Mike Hargrove. "Nobody has ever come back from being three games down. We knew it had to happen (last night).''

So, prior to the game, Kenny Lofton spoke at a team meeting. Then he went out and had a perfect night. He singled and doubled in his first two at-bats, scoring both times. He stole another base.

 

He singled in his third at-bat. He walked three times. Lofton, not Belle, has become the leader of this team.
"Kenny's on fire right now,'' said Sandy Alomar, who drove in the tying run with a single past the glove of a diving Fred McGriff in the eighth inning.

 

"He wants to win so bad. That's why we had the meeting. We've come so far, not to win would be so disappointing.

 

If we lose we're going to lose with dignity.'' Last night, the Indians needed a little more Jacobs Field magic with their 31st comeback win this season and their 19th in the last at-bat.

Cleveland had a 4-1 lead by the second inning, thanks largely to Lofton. By then Atlanta starter John Smoltz was gone, having allowed six hits in just 2 1/3 innings.

 

But Brad Clontz and Kent Mercker combined to go 4 1/3 innings, allowing only two hits. Meanwhile, McGriff and Ryan Klesko hammered home runs to cut Charles Nagy's lead to 4-3.

 

The Indians got it back up to 5-3 with a Lofton creation in the seventh. But Nagy came back for the eighth. Big mistake.

 

The Braves scored three times, the lead run coming in on Mike Devereaux's pinch-hit single. "It should've been over a lot sooner,'' said Murray. "(A loss) would've been hard to swallow." Said the Braves' Mark Lemke, who singled in the ninth and 11th: "We never thought we'd walk through Cleveland.''