Everything to play for as Fall Classic heads to Chicago all square
CLEVELAND >> One team’s ace matched another to finish off the opening two games of the World Series at Progressive Field.
One night after Corey Kluber set a Cleveland Indians franchise record with nine strikeouts in Game 1 of the Fall Classic — eight of them came in first three innings — Jake Arrieta answered by taking a no-hitter into the sixth in a 5-1 win that evened the bestof-seven series at one game a piece.
Game 3 is scheduled to start at 8:08 p.m. on Friday night at Wrigley Field, which will host the next three contests.
Arrieta memorably struggled in Game 2 of the NLCS last season against the Mets, but perhaps took some lessons from that loss into this outing.
“I think the temperature was probably close to what it was at Citi Field,” he said from the interview room late Wednesday night. “I think keeping my hand as warm as I could in between innings to not lose feel in the fingertips, because for, not even just a starting pitcher, but for a pitcher, you want to have that consistent feel off your fingertips, especially on your breaking ball, to maintain consistency with how you execute those pitches.
“So getting on the bike in between innings in the weight room or just continuously moving around to stay loose and stay hot was really what I tried to do throughout the night.”
Staying hot was difficult for everyone involved. Indians skipper Terry Francona cracked that he tried to use the bathroom during the game and couldn’t thanks to the 43 degree temperatures at first pitch.
Thankfully, the story after the game wasn’t so much that as it was Kyle Schwarber’s incredible performance despite missing all but three games of the regular season thanks to a torn ACL. After rehabbing the injury all year and a brief stint in the Arizona Fall League, he returned Tuesday night, but really made his mark in Game 2, in which he went 2-for-4 with two RBI, a walk and a run scored.
However, with the series now shifting to a National League park, Schwarber’s availability is unclear given that he’s yet to be cleared to play the field. After his team’s Wednesday night win, Cubs manager Joe Maddon was asked if that could change in time for Friday.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said. “That’s something I’m waiting to hear from our guys, from our medical side, because obviously he looks good. He looks good at the plate. Running the bases he looks pretty good so far.
“I talked to him there before his last at-bat. I asked him if he got on base if he was good to go. He said, yes, and I said, okay, fine. Good to go as far as running. I said, ‘Just make sure you stay smart with it.’ And there’s nothing about watching him that tells me that he’s inhibited right now.”
In the short-term, the Indians will send Josh Tomlin to the mound for Game 3 in using a three-man rotation so that Kluber can start Game 4 and a possible Game 7. The Cubs will counter with Kyle Hendricks, who pitched Chicago to the World Series with a dominant performance against the Dodgers in the NLCS clincher, but are then expected to have John Lackey on the bump in Saturday’s Game 4.