Closing in on respect
Underdog Cleveland on brink of WS title
CHICAGO — They started out as underdogs in a best-of-five series against the heavyweight Red Sox, even though they had homefield advantage.
The Cleveland Indians haven’t been getting much respect this October.
But with last night’s convincing 7-2 win over the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the World Series at Wrigley Field, the Indians hold a 3-1 series lead and are one win away from offseason bragging rights.
Terry Francona appears destined to win his third career World Series title, or he’ll become the first manager to lose after being up 3-1 in the World Series in more than 25 years. The last 10 teams to go up 3-1 have finished the job.
Asked if the 2004 Red Sox entered his mind, Francona said, “We’re up, we’re not down. I think you got it reversed.”
The Indians, a team that won 94 games during the regular season — nine fewer than their World Series foes, limped to the finish line by hitting just .246 in the season’s final month while losing two of their best pitchers, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, to devastating injuries. They entered the Division Series as longshots to beat the Red Sox while having the worst odds (9-1) to win the World Series of any of the eight remaining teams, according to Bovada.
It was their series sweep over the Red Sox that set the stage for an unexpected October fairy tale.
Corey Kluber, last night’s winner, wasn’t supposed to be this good pitching through a right quad strain he suffered in his final regular-season start on Sept. 26. He didn’t pitch again until throwing a 15-pitch bullpen session just five days before starting Game 2 of the ALDS against the Red Sox.
Kluber posted an impressive 3.14 ERA this year, but even the Indians hedged their bets on him in the postseason, making him the No. 2 starter behind Trevor Bauer.
In the ALDS Game 2, he averaged 93.5 mph on his fastball, down from 95.5 mph he averaged in his final regular-season game. He shut down the Sox, holding them scoreless on just three hits over seven innings, and left Red Sox hitting coach Chili Davis stunned.
“Kluber, even though I didn’t think he had his best stuff that day, he located the pitches very well,” Davis said days later. “And you know me, I don’t give pitchers any credit. I don’t give a (expletive) how well you locate, you have to find a way. . . . But he pitched away from our strengths and he pitched a pretty good ballgame.”
Last night, he kept the Cubs’ potent offense to just one run in six innings of work. He rarely touched 93 mph on the radar gun.
“I think we like the position we’re in, but the task isn’t done yet,” Kluber said. “We still have one more game to win, and we’re going to show up (tonight) and play with the same sense of urgency we’ve played with until this point. We don’t want to let them build up any momentum and let them get back in the series.”
Kluber has allowed just three runs in 301⁄ postseason innings (0.89 ERA). If he doesn’t pitch again in the series, he will become just the third pitcher (John Smoltz, 1996; Burt Hooton, 1981) to throw at least 30 innings with an ERA under 1.00 in a single postseason.
Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway said Kluber’s start against the Red Sox set the tone for a historic postseason run.
“That was big,” Callaway said. “It was a funny start for him. A lot of people don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. He was wearing a brace at the time and it was giving him some complications in his knee. His knee was killing him that whole start. And he went out there and threw shutout innings against a really good lineup in the Boston Red Sox.
“I think that gave him the confidence to come out here and know that, ‘My stuff is good enough, even when I don’t feel very good, to go out there and get some outs.’ Obviously he’s felt great since then.”
The Indians have quieted every offense they’ve faced this postseason.
The Cubs and Red Sox have similarly young lineups full of talented, but inexperienced hitters.
Filled with nerves, the Sox’ young guns played tight in the ALDS and the carefree Indians carved them up, holding them to a .214 average in the sweep.
Indians lefty Andrew Miller finally allowed a run last night, giving up a solo bomb to Dexter Fowler in the eighth inning to snap his postseason record of 15 straight scoreless innings, but the Cubs were still relatively quiet and their series batting average sits at .204.
This is the Indians’ series to lose. They’re no longer the underdogs.