After an October full of great command from their pitching staff, amazing defense and a flawless bullpen, the Indians had none of those things as they dropped game two to even up the series at 1-1.
First Inning
With major questions still remaining about Trevor Bauer‘s pinky, he began the game with a couple pitches outside (one ball, one strike) and then got Dexter Fowler to ground one back at him for an easy first out of the game. He looked good coming back against Kris Bryant to push the count to 2-2, but the Cubs slugger lined one up the middle for the first hit of the game. After Anthony Rizzo fouled off a few tough pitches, he ripped one to the right field corner, scoring Bryant from first. Lonnie Chisenhall fielded the ball off the wall and had assumed Bryant would stay at third, so rather than throwing to the cut off man he went to second and both runners were safe.
A ten pitch at bat from Ben Zobrist culminated in a fly out to Coco Crisp in left and another long at bat against Kyle Schwarber a strike out to end the inning with the Cubs posting the early 1-0 lead.
Jake Arrieta had an easier start to the game, getting a weak infield fly off the bat of Carlos Santana to start the game and a strike out swinging on Jason Kipnis. Arrieta lost his control then and threw six straight balls for a walk to Francisco Lindor and eventually a walk of Mike Napoli. After getting down 3-1 to Jose Ramirez, the Indians third baseman smashed one to the warning track in center, but Fowler pulled it down to end the inning with two on.
Second Inning
Continuing with the lengthy at bats, Javier Baez fouled off what would have been ball four only to hit a bouncing ball to third for an infield single. Willson Contreras flew out to right for the first out and Jorge Soler to center for the second, but they didn’t go easy either. By the time Addison Russell lined out to Chisenhall in right, Bauer had already thrown 51 pitches in the first two innings.
The Indians hitters didn’t have nearly as lengthy at bats as Chisenhall grounded out to Baez at second, then Crisp followed him with a line drive to the second baseman as well. Tyler Naquin worked the count to full by taking a pitch on the inside corner, but ultimate struck out swinging on a fastball low and away.
Third Inning
Bauer looked significantly stronger in the third, throwing 93 MPH with his fastball as he retired Fowler on a ground ball to Kipnis and Bryant on a weak line drive to Lindor. Bauer got ahead of Rizzo 0-2, but ended up walking the first baseman and giving up a single up the middle to Zobrist. After he got behind 3-0 to Schwarber, Bauer threw a fast ball down the middle and the DH hit it right back from whence it came for a single and the Cubs second run of the game. With the run already in, and runners on the corners, Baez lost all the patience that had kept the Cubs on Bauer all night as he struck out swinging on a ball outside in the dirt.
Arrieta continued to be effectively wild in the third, striking out Perez after a lengthy at bat, then getting Santana looking on a high fastball. After two straight full counts, Kipnis put the second strike in play, flying out to left.
Fourth Inning
It looked like more of the same when Bauer lost Contreras and walked him after a full count, but Kipnis turned an incredible double play to get both Contreras and the speedy Soler at first. This would be the beginning of the end for Bauer, however, as he gave up a single to Russell and was pulled from the game for Zach McAllister. Never one to mess around with breaking pitches, McAllister struck out Fowler on three pitches.
In the bottom half, Arrieta continued his hitless start with a strike out looking on Lindor, a 2-1 fly out to center by Napoli and a pop to short from Chisenhall to end the inning. Only a five pitch walk to Ramirez between the second and third outs marred the inning as the no hitter and shut out remained intact.
Fifth Inning
McAllister stayed in for the fifth and struck out Bryant to begin the inning on a curve in the dirt before walking Rizzo. This probably should have been the last batter for McAllister with the hot Zobrist coming to bat, but Francona let him stay and Zobrist made both of them pay. A line drive down the right field line would have easily been a double for runners on second and third, but Chisenhall slipped while trying to cut the ball off and Zobrist went to third with an RBI triple. This was finally enough for Francona as he went to his regular season favorite, Bryan Shaw.
With the infield in, Schwarber ripped one up the middle to bring home the fourth Cubs run of the night off Shaw. After such great defense in the first two rounds and even earlier in game two, a Shaw wild pitch put Schwarber on second and a Jason Kipnis error, just the Indians second in the post season (Shaw had the other) extended the inning for Soler. Shaw had struck out Baez swinging in between, so two were out when Soler walked to load the bases. Jason Heyward then made his World Series debut as a pinch runner and defensive replacement for Soler.
Shaw continued to struggle with his control as he walked in Schwarber from third, an unearned run due to the Kipnis error. He did manage to get ahead of Fowler and strike him out swinging, but the Cubs were already ahead by five and the Indians still hitless.
That continued in the bottom of the inning as the Tribe went down 1-2-3 to Arrieta, who had thrown just 79 pitches at the end of the fifth.
Sixth Inning
Danny Salazar came in to start the sixth, his first appearance in any game since September 9th. While Bryant and Rizzo hit the ball hard, they hit it right at Indians fielders as Naquin and Napoli got the first two outs. Salazar then went wild, missing with eight straight pitches for a pair of two out walks to Zobrist and Schwarber. Salazar came back to get ahead in the count to Baez, then eventually induce a routine fly to Naquin to end the inning.
The Indians finally broke up the no hitter two batters into the sixth when Jason Kipnis pulled an outside pitch on the ground up the middle, then hustled to second for a double. Lindor moved Kipnis to third with a ground out to second and this would be huge as Arrieta threw his first wild pitch of the game to allow his first run of the game. This pitch also set Napoli up with a good count and he pulled a fastball to left for the Indians second hit. Despite being just under 100 pitches and having allowed just two hits and a run, Joe Madden pulled Arrieta for the left handed Mike Montgomery. Montgomery threw just one pitch to retire Ramirez and end the inning as he hit it right back to the pitcher, who tossed to Rizzo.
Seventh Inning
It was another right handed reliever for the Tribe in the seventh as they began with Jeff Manship on the mound, who began with a walk of Contreras. After Heyward flew out in his first at bat, Lindor made an absolutely incredible diving stop that looked like it could have been a double play, but his flip to Kipnis was high and glanced off his glove for his second error of the night. Instead of the inning being over, there were runners on first and second with one out. Fowler then reached for the first time in the World Series with a single to right to load the bases.
Montgomery stayed in for the seventh (why not since he had only thrown one pitch) and faced a pinch hitter for Chisenhall in Rajai Davis. While it appeared Davis may have singled down the left field line, the ball was called foul and he ultimately struck out. Crisp went down swinging as well on a pitch outside, then Montgomery faced another right handed pinch hitter as Brandon Guyer replaced Naquin.
The lefty masher took Monty to right center for a single, then took second on a wild pitch. Perez worked a walk to bring Santana to the plate with two outs, but the switch hitter struck out to end the inning.
Eighth Inning
Otero stayed in for the eighth and got Zobrist to ground out on two pitches for the first out. He got Schwarber swinging, then Baez to ground out to short for the Indians first 1-2-3 inning of the night.
After striking out Kipnis and getting Lindor to ground out, Montgomery allowed another single to another right handed hitter, Napoli, before making his exit. Despite the four run lead, Maddon went with his closer Aroldis Chapman to face Ramirez with two outs and one on in the eighth. This move worked out perfectly as Ramirez managed only to foul a couple off before going down swinging to end the inning.
Ninth Inning
Contreras came out swinging against Mike Clevinger in his World Series debut and flew out to Davis in center on a hard hit ball. Clevinger then set down Heyward and got Russell to hit a looping liner to short for the second clean inning in a row for Cleveland.
Chapman stayed on for the ninth and Davis proved no match as he struck out swinging. Crisp made contact, but grounded out to Baez at second. Guyer extended the game with a walk and took second on defensive indeference, but Chapman and the Cubs won out when Perez grounded out to Russell to end the game.
Player of the Game – Jake Arrieta 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 6 K, 3 BB
Final Score: Chicago Cubs 5 – Cleveland Indians 1
On Deck: The Indians will look to regain the series lead behind Josh Tomlin at 8:08 PM on Friday night in Chicago. For the Cubs will be the 2016 MLB ERA title holder, Kyle Hendricks as he will look to put Chicago ahead for the first time in the series.
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