Long before the Guardians were grinding through a September pennant race, Cleveland had one of those nights that still sounds made up when you say it out loud: a 22-0 demolition of the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
The date was August 31, 2004, and the final score tells the story well enough on its own. Cleveland piled up 22 runs on 22 hits, and by the time it was over, New York had been handed the largest shutout in American League history and the worst home loss in Yankees history.
Paul Hoynes and Joe revisited the anniversary of that game on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, and Hoynes brought the kind of texture only a beat writer in the press box could. The scoring started immediately, with Cleveland putting up three runs in the first, three more in the second and three again in the third.
It was 15-0 after five innings. At that point, the only mystery left was how much worse it could get.
There were plenty of individual performances baked into the rout. Omar Vizquel, better known for his glove than his bat, went 6-for-7 and tied the American League record for hits in a nine-inning game.
Travis Hafner delivered a bases-loaded triple in the first. Coco Crisp homered.
Jody Gerut launched a three-run homer in the ninth. Victor Martinez added another.
Jake Westbrook handled the other side of the story, working seven shutout innings and allowing only five hits.
Hoynes said the hits seemed to come with the same rhythm over and over. “I just remember Omar hitting one single after another up the middle over second base,” he said. “It looked like every hit was the same, just really a beat down of the Yankees.”
The part he remembered most, though, came the next morning.
“George Steinbrenner, obviously a Cleveland guy that tried to buy the Indians and failed and hated losing to the Indians, he had put on the Yankees scoreboard during batting practice ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going,’” Hoynes recalled. “And there was this like, dirge playing over the loudspeakers and he was just sitting in the box all by himself.”
Because of the old layout at Yankee Stadium, Steinbrenner’s box sat right next to the press box, giving Hoynes a clear view of him stewing while the Yankees took batting practice. Noga added the final touch: “He was sitting there stewing in his turtleneck.”
There was also a weird little subplot to the night. Kenny Lofton, the former Cleveland favorite, was in right field for New York and had to watch his old club pour it on. Vizquel even doubled over Lofton’s head and off the wall.
For a team fighting for every run in September, it’s a reminder that Cleveland has had its moments - and this was one of the loudest.
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