In the battle of cursed franchises, the Indians came out on top in game one thanks to tremendous performances by their starter Corey Kluber, catcher Roberto Perez and the relief crew of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. Here’s how it happened inning by inning.
First Inning
Those watching at home were likely more nervous than Corey Kluber was starting this game as he came out amped up, throwing a few MPH faster than normal. Both Dexter Fowler and Kris Bryant srtruck out looking to start the game and Anthony Rizzo popped out to end the inning.
The Tribe was slightly more successful in the bottom half, although Jon Lester also struck out his first batter, Rajai Davis. After Jason Kipnis lined out, they got a little two out rally started. Francisco Lindor singled through the middle and stole second, giving free tacos to the world. Mike Napoli and Carlos Santana walked to load the bases.
Just as he did all season, Jose Ramirez came through in the clutch and chopped a dribbler to Lester’s left on the infield. Bryant was unable to reach the ball in time, allowing Lindor to score the first run of the World Series and keep the bases loaded. Brandon “the human dart board” Guyer then took one for the team, knocking in a run the best way he knows how, by getting hit on the leg by a pitch. The bases would remain loaded with two runs in as Lonnie Chisenhall fouled out to David Ross behind the plate.
Second Inning
Ben Zobrist plugged the gap to begin the second, taking a Kluber offering beyond both Davis and Chisenhall for a double. In his first official Major or minor league at bat since April, Kyle Schwarber joined Bryant and Fowler as another strike out victim. Javier Baez took a third strike as well for Kluber’s fourth looking. Why change a good thing as Chris Coghlan stranded Zobrist on second with another K that he stood and watched it go by.
After Roberto Perez lead the inning off with a quick out, Lester proved that he could field his position on a ground ball off the bat of Davis. Kipnis fouled out near the stands on the right side to finish the inning and keep himself from running the bases.
Third Inning
Addison Russell continued the trend, staring at strike three as Kluber struck out six looking the first time through the order. Ross blooped a single into left and, combined with a nice catch on Chisenhall’s foul out, he was the early star for Chicago. Kluber came back to get his first swinging K on Fowler, then his second a batter later against Bryant as the Cubs first two batters struck out their second time each. This gave Kluber eight total in his first nine outs as pin-point command and great movement on his curve, an MLB play-off record for most K’s in the first three innings of any play-off game.
Lindor continued his hot hitting in the play-offs with his second single of the game, a grounder through the right side. He stayed at first with Napoli up as the slugger struck out. Lindor was moving with Santana up, but was caught stealing second on a controversial play that looked like Baez missed the tag. The Indians didn’t challenge, however, and the play stood with Santana eventually walking to make the potential steal unecessary. Ramirez also singled with a line drive up the middle, but Santana came up lame on the play and required the attention of the Indians trainers and a bottle of Gatorade. That cured him for the moment as he stayed in the game with what looked like a leg cramp. He didn’t need to test it as Guyer struck out to end the inning.
Fourth Inning
Simply confounding the Cubs hitters, Kluber got Rizzo to pop out to Perez behind the plate to start the fourth. Kipnis tested his ankle for the first time and looked good ranging to his left on a ground ball to get Zobrist. It turned out the long lay-off for Schwarber didn’t hurt as much as many thought it would as he launched a first pitch fastball off the wall in right. Kluber recovered quickly to get Baez to fly out to Chisenhall in right, ending the inning without a strike out.
ALDS hero, Perez came through again for the Tribe with a one out solo home run to left that hit off the railing and bounced back to the field. Perez initially thought it stayed in the park and was going to be happy with a single until the umpire crew told him to finish rounding the bases. Davis hit one to the same area, but just the Cubs earlier in the inning, it didn’t have as much as the first hit and was easily caught. Kipnis fouled out on a great play by Russell to end the inning with the Tribe up 3-0.
Fifth Inning
Coghlan struck out looking for a second time to start the fifth, then Russell hit an easy fly to center for Davis. Napoli finished the inning by ranging far to his right to catch a looping liner off the bat of Ross.
Lindor accidentally hit one about five feet in front of the plate and was easily thrown out for the first out in the fifth. Napoli struck out for the second time swinging against Lester for the second and Santana went looking to end the inning.
Sixth Inning
Kluber worked quickly in the sixth, getting Fowler on a ground out to second and Bryant fouled out behind the plate to Perez. Rizzo also popped out to Perez, although in fair territory as the Indians outfielder continued their boring night.
Ramirez added the Indians second extra base hit of the night off Lester with an opposite field double to lead off the inning. Guyer left him there when he struck out looking, then Chisenhall flew out to left to end Lester’s night.
Right handed reliever, Pedro Strop, came in to face Perez with two outs and Ramirez on second and struck Perez out looking to end the inning.
Seventh Inning
Kluber came on to start the seventh, but didn’t stay long as a Zobrist single to short left pushed him from the game. Even so, he had an incredible start going 6+ innings with nine strike outs and just four hits allowed without a walk. If it weren’t for the Indians having such a spectacular bullpen, particularly Andrew Miller, who came in to face Schwarber, Kluber would have stayed around longer. As it is, the early exit could help Kluber (88 pitches) be ready for game four and then a potential game seven.
Schwarber hung in against Miller and worked a walk. A single from Baez then loaded the bases for Willson Contreras, pinch hitting for Coghlan. Contreras popped out to short center and Davis threw home to keep Zobrist on third. Schwarber had strayed far enough from second that it could have been a double play had Davis through to second instead, but his concentration was on the runner tagging up at third to keep a run from scoring.
Miller K’d Russell swinging on a slider inside for his first of the night and, after increasing the level of difficulty to the maximum, he struck out Ross looking to end the inning.
Strop faced Davis for a quick out, then Joe Madden went to his bullpen a second time to bring Travis Wood to face Kipnis. He would have to run this one out as he grounded out to short for the second out. After just one batter, Madden pulled the lefty Wood for another right hander to face Lindor in Justin Grimm. Lindor treated him the same way he’s treated nearly every pitcher this post-season with a base hit to center, taking two with a hustle double. The Indians rally would end there, however, as Napoli hit it to Rizzo, who was shifted far off the base at first and flipped it to Grimm to end the inning.
Eighth Inning
The Cubs were extremely patient against Kluber (to their detriment as shown by the massive amount of looking strike outs) and they stayed so against Miller. Here, it was at least slightly in their favor as Miller’s slider moves so much it often appears to be a strike, just to move out of the zone at the last second. Bryant used this to his advantage to work a one out walk, Miller’s second of the game after Fowler popped out to start the inning.
Rizzo was another fly to center, but with two outs, Zobrist had his third hit of the night and the Cubs sixth with a line drive single. This moved Bryant to third, but, as it seems he always has, Miller came through and struck out Schwaber swinging to end the inning and earn a hold.
Santana went just a bit too far on a check swing to strike out against Grimm, then Ramirez, looking for his fourth hit of the night, flew out to center. Guyer stayed in against the right hander with Coco Crisp and Tyler Naquin on the bench, likely for defensive reasons, and worked a walk. Chisenhall singled, bringing in Hector Rondon from the bullpen to face the terrifying Perez and this may have been a mistake. Perez absolutely demolished a 2-2 pitch well over the left field this time for a 6-0 lead. With it, Perez became the third Indians hitter ever to hit two home runs in the same post-season game along with Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez.
Tired of being ignored, Davis hit safely for the first time in the post-season with a bloop shot to right that got under the glove of Albert Almora Jr., who had come in during a double switch. Hustling, Davis turned a single into a double, but the inning ended a batter later when Kipnis grounded out to second.
Ninth Inning
Despite the extended lead, Francona still went to Allen in the ninth. He started as expected with a three pitch strike out looking of Baez on a breaking ball. Contreras, who had stayed in the game after the earlier double switch, doubled off the top of the wall in right as Chisenhall misplayed the ball at the wall. Allen struck out Russell for the second out of the inning, then Miguel Montero came in to pinch hit for Almora. He struck out swinging as well as the Indians won their first World Series game since 1997.
Player of the Game – Roberto Perez 2 for 4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
Final Score: Chicago Cubs 0 – Cleveland Indians 6
On Deck: Game two was originally scheduled for the same start time as game one, 8:08 PM, but a threat of rain late Wednesday in Cleveland has caused Major League Baseball to move the start to a more normal regular season start time of 7:08 PM. The expected starters remain the same as Trevor Bauer will try to go more than one inning against Jake Arrieta.
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