CUBS COME BACK:
Schwarber drives in 2, Arrieta solid; Series now tied 1-1
Chicago evened things up in Game 2 of the World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians, 5-1. It took the Indians 51⁄3 innings to get their first hit off Cubs starter Jake Arrieta, right, and Kyle Schwarber had two hits and two RBIs. Chicago will host Game 3 Friday night at Wrigley Field.
CLEVELAND — The Cubs evened the World Series as Kyle Schwarber provided two RBI singles and his teammates capitalized on a series of miscues by the Indians in a 5-1 victory in Game 2 on Wednesday night.
The Cubs hadn’t won a World Series game since beating the Tigers 8-7 in 1945 to force Game 7.
Schwarber played only two games this season before tearing ligaments in his knee in April. Expected to miss the rest of the year, he was activated to serve as the designated hitter for World Series road games. Thus far he has lived up to his billing as one of the sport’s finest young hitters.
In a Game 1 defeat, he smashed a double and walked. A day later, he helped keep the line moving for an offense that woke up after being shut out Tuesday.
The forecast called for rain at about 10 p.m., so Major League Baseball moved up the first pitch to 7:08 p.m., an hour earlier than usual. Neither starting pitcher appeared hurried by the impending weather. Both Indians starter Trevor Bauer and Cubs starter Jake Arrieta operated at a torpid pace.
Bauer required 87 pitches to acquire 11 outs. He gave up two runs before leaving with two out in the fourth. Arrieta did not give up a hit until his 88th pitch of the game. That pitch, however, was thrown in the sixth inning.
And the rain also cooper- ated by not arriving until the bottom of the eighth.
Silenced in Game 1, the Cubs showed life in the first inning. A one-out single by Kris Bryant placed a runner aboard for Anthony Rizzo. He ripped a double into the right-field corner. Indians outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall decided to throw to second base rather than hit the cutoff man, which allowed Bryant to sneak around third for a run.
The Cubs produced an- other run in the third. Rizzo sparked a two-out rally with a walk, capitalizing on Bauer’s inability to locate his fastball. Ben Zobrist added a single. Bauer threw three balls in a row to Schwarber, then fed him a fastball down the middle. Schwarber roped an RBI single up the middle.
Another mistake by Chisenhall in the field contributed to a Cubs flurry in the fifth. After a walk to Rizzo, Zobrist pulled a ball into right. Chisenhall slipped and fell as he raced for the ball. Rizzo scored, and Zobrist received credit for an RBI triple.
Next up was Schwarber facing reliever Bryan Shaw. The Indians shifted their infielders to prevent Zobrist from scoring on a ground ball. But that created a hole for Schwarber, who threaded a single up the middle for his second RBI and the Cubs’ fourth run.
Shaw lost his command as the inning continued. After Willson Contreras reached on an error by second baseman Jason Kipnis, Shaw walked Jorge Soler and Addison Russell. The free pass to Russell forced in a run.
The Indians pushed Arrieta out of the game in the sixth. Kipnis recorded his team’s first hit with a double and scored soon after on a wild pitch.