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  • homered twice and tied a record with seven RBI as Boston halted a 13-game postseason losing streak that began with Bill Buckner's infamous error, beating Cleveland 11-3 Tuesday in their AL playoff opener.

    Nomar Garciaparra hit a three-run homer and Pedro Martinez pitched seven innings as Boston ended a slide that began on Oct. 25, 1986, when Mookie Wilson's grounder to first rolled through Buckner's legs at Shea Stadium.

    That forced a World Series Game 7 the Red Sox lost, and Boston -- which hasn't won the Series since 1918 -- was swept by Oakland in 1988 and '90, and then by Cleveland in 1995.

    Thise figures had weighed heavily on the Red Sox and especially on Vaughn, who went 0-for-14 with seven strikeouts in his only previous playoff experience in '95.

    "It was nice to get off a lot of things," Vaughn said. "... We did all right, man. We did a lot of things individually and as a team. It was nice to get it done today."

    This

    Jaret Wright
    Cleveland starter Jaret Wright kicks the mound as the Red Sox celebrate Mo Vaughn's (42) three-run homer in the first. (AP)
    year's Red Sox insist the past is just that, and they're not cursed by Babe Ruth's ghost o any other demons. And with Boston's trio of stars doing most of the damage, the Red Sox made the Indians and 45,815 at Jacobs Field believers.

    "I didn't even know we had one," Garciaparra said of the losing streak. "You're asking the wrong guy."

    Mike Stanley, in his second stint with the Red Sox, knows there's no sense denying what happened.

    "Even though you weren't here, you know," Stanley said. "You're still cognizant of what the record is in postseason and what Mo's done. You can't help but notice."

    Vaughn ended his streak of playoff failure in the first inning with a three-run homer off Jaret Wright, sending Cleveland to its worst loss in 55 postseason games.

    Garciaparra's three-run homer made it 6-0 in the fifth. Vaughn connected for a two-run shot in the sixth off Doug Jones, becoming the first Boston player to hit two homers in a postseason game since Rico Petrocelli in the 1967 World Series.

    Vaughn added a two-run double in the eighth off Jim Poole to set a career-high for RBI and tie Edgar Martinez's record for RBI in a postseason game.

    "I just wanted an opportunity to get here again," Vaughn said.

    Kenny Lofton hit a two-run homer and Jim Thome had a solo shot for the Indians. With Wright taking the mound the Indians were hoping to recapture the magic that carried them to Game 7 of the World Series last year.

    Wright, however, couldn't get out of the fifth inning. The 22-year-old right-hander, who went 3-0 in the postseason in '97, was touched for six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

    Cleveland will try to salvage a home split in Game 2 on Wednesday. Dwight Gooden -- coincidentally the loser the last time the Red Sox won a postseason game -- will start for the Indians against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Game 3 in the best-of-5 series is scheduled for Friday in Boston.

    Losing a Game 1 is nothing new to the Indians, who have lost the opener in seven consecutive postseason series.

    "It's discouraging, but then again it isn't," Thome said. "We lost the first game three times last year and came back to win. Tomorrow is big. We don't want to go to Boston down two."

    The Indians knew going in that Martinez would be tough. Down three runs after one inning, their challenge went from difficult to dire.

    Cleveland batted just .170 in losing twice against the right-hander during the regular season, and although Martinez had struggled in September -- 1-3 with a 4.15 ERA in five starts -- he looked sharp for the first five innings, allowing just two hits.

    The Indians pulled to 8-3 in the seventh on Thome's homer and had runners at second and third with one out. But Martinz got Sandy Alomar to pop out and retired Omar Vizquel on a liner to right.

    Notes

  • Garciaparra knocked in four runs.
  • Darren Lewis left the game with a bruise after being struck on the left ear flap in the fifth inning by Wright. He said would be ready for Wednesday's game.
  • Indians manager Mike Hargrove left right-hander Chad Ogea off his 25-man postseason roster. Ogea was one of Cleveland's most effective pitchers last October, winning two World Series games.
  • Vaughn's three-run homer was the first by a Boston player in the postseason since Jim Rice in 1986.
  • Martinez drove in seven runs for Seattle in the 1995 division series against New York.
  • Valentin tied another division series record with four runs scored.

    © 1998 SportsLine USA, Inc. All rights reserved

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