It’s game one in Chicago, with the series tied at a game a piece, and questions fly threw the air like a liner to right in Wrigley Field. Can the Cubs can hold tightly to their impressive home record from the regular season (57-24)? Will Carlos Santana be successful in left field and prove yet again that skipper Terry Francona is a genius? Can Kyle Hendricks put another notch in the belt for the NL Cy Young? A lot to determine within the next nine innings!
First Inning
The argument has been made throughout the day both for and against Tito putting Santana in left for the first time ever in tonight’s game. The idea is that he will get more runs in batting lead off than possibly runs given up if he has an issue in the outfield. In his first at bat, Santana strikes out, giving Hendricks first K of the game, so that theory will have to be tested later on. With one out, 2B Jason Kipnis taps one between the mound and first, with Hendricks on the ball but with no play to first, giving the Indians their first hit, a single, of game three. Riding the energy, SS Francisco Lindor shoots one to left-center field over a reaching Addison Russell, for a single that moves Kipnis to third. Lindor is then thrown out at first by Hendricks who caught his lead off the base, two outs. 1B Mike Napoli, now with only one 90 feet from home, strikes out giving the Cubs starter his second strikeout of the game.
First up for the host-team Cubs, CF Dexter Fowler, who after three pitches from Indians starter Josh Tomlin, lines one to Napoli, who gets the runner out at firstbase. Up next, the phenom 3B Kris Bryant, who has a single homerun and 6 RBI this postseason, gives Santana his first test in left field, flying out to him for the second out. With the bases empty but the crowd roaring, All Star Anthony Rizzo grounds out to Napoli who tossed to Tomlin for the out to end the inning.
Second Inning
To start off the second inning, Cleveland’s third baseman Jose Ramirez, who has filled the cleats of Michael Brantley flawlessly this season, grounds a single to Cubs second baseman Javier Baez who throws to first without a play. After a couple attempts to pick Ramirez off at first like he did Lindor in the first inning, Hendricks gets Lonnie Chisenhall to ground into a fielder choice, throwing out the leadoff runner Ramirez at second. With two outs and one on, catcher Roberto Perez, who’s taken this postseason by storm, grounds into a 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom half of the second inning, second baseman Ben Zobrist gets the first hit off the Wahoo’s starter with a single to center field. The crowd ate up the potential of a rally early on in the game, even if it’s a single. With no outs, Willson Contreras gets Zobrist to second on a soft grounder to the pitcher, who throws him out at first for the first out. For his first at bat of the game, Cubs left fielder Jorge Soler gives Tomlin his first strikeout of the game as he goes down swinging. Finally, to end the inning, Baez leaves one stranded with a pop up to Kipnis.
Third Inning
Top of the third, and Hendricks still looks confident on the mound with the bottom of the order coming up to bat. Rookie Tyler Naquin’s first at bat of game three results in a liner to the Cubbies shortstop for the out, followed by Tomlin swinging at nothing to add another K to the meter. It should be no surprise to anyone who follows Cleveland that Santana walked to first, 99 total during the regular season/4 in the postseason, on Henricks 39th pitch of the game. With one on and two outs, Kipnis leaves Los at first striking out on a foul tip.
The Tribe stalls out the bottom half of the inning waiting for Napoli to get on the field, which seemed to work for them, as it ended being the first 1-2-3 inning in the game. Just as the inning starter for Hendricks, Tomlin started off facing the bottom of the order. Addison Russell was thrown out at first after grounding out to Kipnis who threw it to Napoli. Starter Hendricks did the same to Lindor for the second out, and Fowler lines one to Lonnie in right for his second out of the night to finish out the third inning.
Fourth Inning
Franky Lindor leads off the top of the fourth who at this point as gone 5-9 during the World Series. After getting picked off in the first inning, he has some making up to do and did so with another single to right field. Mike Napoli is left grumbling with another strikeout, his second of the game/ 12 in the postseason. Another second in the game, Ramirez reaches first on a base hit, only to be thrown out at second in a force out off the bat of Chisenhall who makes it safely to first. On said force out, Lindor also advanced to third with two down. Roberto Perez continues the trend of leaving in scoring position to fend for themselves, as he gets called out on strikes to put the nail in the coffin in the top of the fourth.
Out of the gate, Bryant takes the first walk off the Indians righty on a questionable call by the home umpire. With one on, no outs and Rizzo at the plate, the Tribe infield shifts to the right side, who then pops up behind home to Perez. Zobrist, who is 6-9 in the World Series, grounds out to Kipnis, getting Bryant out at second, followed by a pop fly to Naquin in center by Contreras, quietly putting an end to the fourth inning. Tomlin at this point, only at 50 pitches in the game with a single strikeout.
Fifth Inning
The fifth is where things seemed to get interesting for Cleveland, and then get very Cleveland. Starting off on a solid foot, Naquin with a looping liner to left over the head of a jumping Bryant, to make way for Tomlin at the plate. The pitcher lays a perfect bunt to advance the rookie to second. Cubs catcher Contreras attempts to pick-off Naquin with a throw to Russell and makes multiple trips to the mound to talk with Henricks. After walking Santana for the second time, and putting Kipnis on with a hit by pitch to load them up. Henricks is then pulled from the game with 4 ⅓ IP, 6 hits, 2BB, and 6 strikeouts. Righthander Justin Grimm takes over, and gets Lindor to groundout into a bases loaded, 1 out double play to stop the hype in its tracks.
The feared Kraken, Andrew Miller, begins to warm up in the visitor’s bullpen, with Tomlin coming making another appearance in the game. Soler singles to center, and gets to second on a tap to the infield by Baez whose tossed out at first by the starter. One down. Russell then bounces one to Ramirez near third to get thrown out at first, with Soler still hanging out at second. Tomlin switches spots to be replaced by Miller after 4 ⅔ IP, 2 hits, 1 walk and a single strikeout. In the same instance, a defensive substitution is made by Chicago to pinch hit Miguel Montero for Grimm.
Miller comes out with his usual heat facing Montero, who lines out to Chisenhall.
Sixth Inning
The sixth stands to be the shortest inning in the game, lead by a pitching change for Chicago. Righty reliever Carl Edwards Jr pitches a 1-2-3 half. Napoli grounds out to second, Ramirez pops out to short, and Chisenhall doesn’t even leave the batter’s until striking out.
The Cubs side wasn’t anything to sneeze at either, with all three Cubbies, Fowler, Bryant and Rizzo, striking out swinging at the hands of Miller.
Simply put, the 6th was entertainingly boring on all sides.
Seventh Inning
For the fourth time in the game, Cleveland gets their lead off on base, with a long single off the bat of Perez, only to have OF Michael Martinez pinch-run for him the rest of the way. Naquin then squares up to bunt Martinez over to second, with success, to make way for new addition to the game OF Rajai Davis ( Due to a double-switch by the Indians, Davis took the place of Tomlin, and Miller for Santana in the batting order). Davis walks off Edwards after a wild pitch that gets Martinez to third. Cubs try to pick-off another Indians runner, with Martinez being called safe. Chicago challenges the call, and loses the challenge. Pinch-hitting for reliever Miller, Coco Crisp puts the first run on the board in the game with a liner to right field, scoring Martinez. An over-excited Davis misjudges the placement of the ball and gets thrown out by a mile at third. Two down. Another pitching change takes out Edwards and replaces him with Mike Montgomery. Jason Kipnis tries to hit a liner to the right side, and slides head first into home to be called out. Cleveland challenges the call, and loses the challenge to end the top of the seventh. Cleveland leads the Cubs 1-0.
Going into the bottom half of the seventh, catcher Yan Gomes, who replaced Naquin in the order, can be found behind home, and relief arm Bryan Shaw stands on the mound. Shaw goes in hot, getting the first two batters, Zobrist and Contreras, to ground out to second and first base. With the first two out quickly, Shaw seems to settle in, only to give up a triple to Soler off a misjudged fly-ball to Chisenhall. Jason Heyward takes over for Soler as pinch-runner 90 feet from home. Baez, who;s gone 0-2 in the game with 2 LOB, leaves another at third with a ground out to Lindor.
Eighth Inning
Quickly, Lindor grounds out to Montgomery at first to start off the 8th inning and gets thrown out at first. Following that first out, a pitching change for the Cubbies to replace Montgomery with Pedro Strope, Chicago’s setup man for the evening. Just as fast as the first hitter went down, Napoli again strikes out, and Ramirez flies out to left fielder Zobrist.
Shaw comes out again to pitch the 8th for the Tribe, and gets Russell out swinging for the fences. One down. Another substitution by Chicago, Cubs fan favorite Kyle Schwarber takes the place of Strope, only to pop out to short for out number two. Centerfielder Fowler gets his first hit of the game on a single to left. Cleveland takes this as a sign to change things up, and puts OF Brandon Guyer in left, taking the place of Shaw in the order, moves Martinez from centerfield to third, and Davis goes from left to center. Also, in the crazy jumble of defensive moves, they make a pitching change to put closer Cody Allen on the mound with two down. Allen gets Bryant out swinging to end the eighth.
Ninth Inning
Just as Cleveland has The Kraken in Miller, the Cubbies have a weapon of their own in flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman, who sets almost all records for velocity in major league baseball. Also, just as Miller did, Chapman makes very quick work of the Indians hitters. Lonnie strikes out, Martinez strikes out, and Gomes, who has yet to have an at bat in this postseason, grounds out to Baez to the sound of an ecstatic Chicago home crowd.
Finally, the bottom of the ninth. The potential last chance for the home boys, still in this game only down by a single run. Off the bat (like what I did there?), Rizzo gets a line drive single to left, the tying run on first. Chris Coghlan takes his place pinch-running for Rizzo at first. Zobrist goes down swinging, leaving the Cubs with two more chances to get on the board. Contreras grounds out to Martinez, and gets Coghlan to second, putting the tying run in scoring position. Feeding off the energy, Jason Heyward reaches first on an error by Napoli, and now with a single hit, the Cubs have every change to take the lead in walk-off fashion. Allen, who’s in some zone on the mound, takes his eye of first, and Heyward steals with no throw from Gomes. Runners are now both in scoring, with two down and Baez at the plate. As anticlimactic as it could be, Baez strikes out swinging to end the inning and the game. Cleveland takes a 2-0 lead in the series with a 1-0 win in Chicago.
Player of the Game – Coco Crisp – pinch-hit single to score the only run of the game in the 7th
Final Score: Chicago Cubs 0 – Cleveland Indians 1
On Deck: Tomorrow, Saturday October 29th, the Tribe and Cubs meet again at Wrigley for game four! Cleveland leads with Ace Corey Kluber for his second start of the World Series, and Chicago puts 11-8 John Lackey on the bump to tie the series at two. First pitch at 8:08!
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