Today in Tribe History: July 4th, 2006

In case you somehow missed it, today is July 4th — you know, Independence Day.

You won’t read about it in history books, but the Indians celebrated the 4th of July with some fireworks of their own on this date 8 years ago, clobbering the Yankees by a score of 19-1 in Cleveland.

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Jake Westbrook pitched 7 strong innings for the Tribe, allowing only 5 hits and an unearned run. He struck out 3 and walked 3, and improved to 7-4 on the season. Edward Mujica added two scoreless innings of relief, allowing 4 hits and striking out 1.

Yankees starter Shawn Chacon couldn’t even make it out of the second inning, only retiring 4 batters. In his inning and a third of work, he allowed six hits — including three home runs — and 7 runs total, all of them earned. He struck out 1 and walked 3. Reliever Ron Villone was able to pitch 2 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only 2 hits and striking out two batters.

The Indians scored 9 runs in the fifth inning against T.J. Beam and Mike Myers. Beam retired 2 batters but allowed 6 earned runs on 6 hits, while Myers recorded the final out of the inning but allowed 3 runs (2 earned) and gave up 3 hits and 2 walks.

On this date 8 years ago, an offensive outburst like this one took place in Cleveland. (Credit: Mark Duncan, AP)

Scott Proctor pitched 2 innings and allowed 3 more runs on 4 more hits, while Kyle Farnsworth pitched a scoreless eighth inning.

The Indians received contributions from all around the lineup, and the only starter without a hit was Jason Michaels, though he was hit by a pitch and scored a run. Six players drove in multiple runs: Ronnie Belliard, Jhonny Peralta, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, Todd Hollandsworth, and Aaron Boone. Peralta and Hafner each hit 2 home runs, while Martinez and Belliard each hit one as well.

Grady Sizemore went 3 for 3 with 2 walks, adding an RBI and scoring 3 runs.

As a team, the Indians went 9 for 16 with runners in scoring position. Despite their offensive outburst, they also left 9 more runners on base.

The game lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes, and was played in front of a crowd of 29,368 fans.

The Indians improved to 39-43 with the win, and would go on to finish the season at 78-84 — even with a Pythagorean Record of 89-73. That season, the Tribe scored a whopping 870 runs, which was second in the majors (behind only the Yankees, interestingly enough). They also allowed 782 runs, which was 5 below the league average that season.

The Yankees, meanwhile, fell to 46-35 after the loss. They went on to finish 97-65, and ultimately lost in the ALDS to the Tigers in 4 games.