Oakland had high hopes as they came back home and had their ace starter, Dave Stewart, on the mound after two losses in Atlanta in the Best of the 1990s World Series. They had faced this before against the 1998 New York Yankees and had reeled off 4 straight wins. But it was not meant to be this time, as ghosts of Game 2 haunted them even at home. Once again, the 1998 Atlanta Braves took an early lead thanks to an Andrés Galarraga home run in the 1st inning. Once again, the Athletic bats were cold. Once again, Galarraga would hit another homer to further seal the deal. Even injuries to two key Atlanta starters couldn’t change the outcome. John Smoltz looked hittable, but exited in the 3rd inning with a pulled groin. Ryan Klesko, hitting over .400 in the Tournament, exited the game with a strained rib after colliding with the wall in the 2nd. But Oakland didn’t have an answer for any of the 5 pitchers that Atlanta sent out. Meanwhile, coming off a 2 homer game in Game 2, Galarraga did it all again, going 4 for 5 with 2 more homers, including a grand slam, and 8 RBI. Back-to-back errors by Willie Randolph and Walt Weiss led to In the end, the Braves won 10-0 on a combined shutout, and now hold a 3-0 series lead. Greg Maddux will take the mound on short rest as Atlanta goes for the sweep. Randolph will miss the rest of the series after dislocating his collar bone on a slide in the 8th inning.