CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians reduced Atlanta Brave right-hander Greg Maddux to a mere mortal.


And with Orel Hershiser providing another heavenly postseason performance, the Indians, facing elimination, swiped a 5-4 victory from the Braves before 43,595 in Jacobs Field on Thursday.


Maddux veered into danger early. Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the first when Omar Vizquel walked and Albert Belle homered to right. Maddux backed Eddie Murray off the plate with a high fastball, and both benches emptied as the two exchanged words. But no punches were thrown, and order was quickly restored.


"Eddie got us going," said center fielder Kenny Lofton after the game.


Maddux gave up four earned runs on seven hits, walked three and struck out only four in seven innings. The Indians' strategy of crowding the plate and swinging at pitches early in the count -- as opposed to their Game 1 ploy of waiting Maddux out -- worked well.


"The little hitters moved closer to the plate, so we could change his mentality on the mound, and the big hitters went the other way,'' Vizquel said. "He wasn't getting all his pitches over for strikes, and we could see the frustration on his face.


"Everyone says he's the best, but he's just another pitcher. He has an arm, we have bats. He's really smart, and he's a good pitcher, but we showed tonight that we could beat anyone.''


The Braves still lead the series, three games to two, but the Indians stashed a few extra bags of momentum in the overhead bins on their flight to Atlanta for Game 6, which will pit Cleveland right-hander Dennis Martinez against Brave left-hander Tom Glavine on Saturday night.


"I think the pressure is on the Braves," said Hershiser, who gave up two runs on five hits and struck out six in eight innings. "They're the ones who have lost two World Series. They're the ones with the lead to lose."


Cleveland third baseman Jim Thome, whose RBI single snapped a 2-2 tie in the sixth and whose eighth-inning home run provided the eventual winning run, said he was confident about the Indians' chances, even though only six teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series.


"If we win the next game we're going to win it all,'' Thome said. "This next game is the biggest of all our careers. If we win, it will give us that much more momentum going into Game 7."


Thome's home run gave Cleveland a 5-2 lead at the time, but when Atlanta designated hitter Ryan Klesko crushed a Jose Mesa pitch for a two-run home run in the top of the ninth, Thome's home run proved to be the difference.