Mussina musters record-breaking 15 Ks in ALCS

With the series tied 1-1, the Orioles traveled to Cleveland where they would start their ace, Mike Mussina, who broke Baltimore’s single-season strikeout record earlier in the season. In his seventh year in the bigs, Mussina recorded 218 Ks during the ’97 regular season.

Heading into Game 3 of the ALCS, Mussina held a tight 1.93 ERA through two postseason starts – winning both games and fanning 16 batters in 14 total innings.

On Oct. 11, 1997, “Moose” would utilize his fastball and knuckle-curve to add to his total and strike out career-high 15 batters through seven innings, setting a then-league championship record for Ks in a single game.

“Mussina was outstanding,” Orioles manager Davey Johnson told the Associated Press. “He threw a lot of pitches in seven innings, but still struck out a lot of guys.”

Mussina was less than pleased, however, as his team would lose Game 3 in a 2-1 pitcher’s duel in which Cleveland’s Orel Hershiser went seven innings himself, allowing no runs and just four hits. With little run support, Mussina’s record-breaking start on the mound could not secure a Baltimore win, and the Indians would take a 2-1 series lead over the Orioles.

“I only enjoy winning,” Mussina told the AP. “I don’t like accomplishing things that are mostly meaningless in the whole scheme of things. They’re not going to look back when the series is over and say, ‘Mussina struck out 15 guys so that’s one point for his team.’ It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just an asterisk.”

That “asterisk” referred to a strikeout for each player in Cleveland’s starting nine, as well as a trio of hat tricks for Bip Roberts, Omar Vizquel and Brian Giles and the dreaded golden sombrero (four strikeouts) for Grissom. Mussina allowed only one run in his impressive performance – a seventh-inning RBI single from Matt Williams that scored Jim Thome from second base.