SERIES BUSINESS
The Cubs’ bats came alive in Game 6 as they prolong the baseball season. Richard Griffin from Cleveland,
CLEVELAND— There has been more than one excellent young shortstop in this World Series. The overlooked guy, Addison Russell, on Tuesday led his Chicago Cubs to a 9-3victory and a Game 7 meeting with the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on Wednesday.
Despite the bright lights that have been shining on Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor, it was Russell who tied a World Series single-game record with six RBIs, including the first Series grand slam since Paul Konerko of the White Sox in 2005. The last player with six World Series RBIs was Albert Pujols in Game 3 of the 2011 Fall Classic. Others: Hideki Matsui of the Yankees in 2009 and Bobby Richardson of the Yankees in 1960.
It’s now either win or go home disappointed for these teams. One of them will leave thirsty Wednesday night, with their long franchise drought still intact. The Indians, who led the series three games to one, have not won since 1948. The Cubs, who battled back, winning two games with their backs to the wall, last celebrated in 1908. Indians manager Terry Francona has never faced an elimination game in his three World Series, two Red Sox sweeps and now this.
As for Cubs manager Joe Maddon, he was in a similar situation as a coach back in 2002 with the Angels. They trailed three games to two and then won Game 6, forcing a winner-take-all with Barry Bonds and his Giants. They won Game 7.
“Omens, I don’t know,” Maddon said prior to Game 6. “I did see my dad’s hat in my bag today. He passed away in 2002. We won the World Series and I’ve had his old Angels hat in my bag since then. So it goes everywhere. I held onto his hat a little bit this morning. That’s probably the omen in a sense.”
Since 1966, in the past 50 seasons there have been three teams that have won a World Series Game 6 on the road to force a Game 7. Those three winning road teams are 2-1 in Game 7, with Series victories going to the 1979 Pirates over Baltimore and the 1968 Tigers over the Cardinals. The only team in those 50 years that has lost the Series in that situation was the Cleveland, in 1997 against the Marlins.
This was not a Cleveland type of game in which Francona might feel comfortable. The Indians much prefer to be leading when the skipper hands the game off to his bullpen. In fact, when trailing, it be- comes difficult for him to justify using hybrid specialist Andrew Miller, because he has been entering in high-leverage situations and recording more than three outs. The Indians need him available for Game 7, so they went to their other bullpen members in a lopsided game.
Thus, it was important for the Cubs to get off to a quick start in Game 6 and that they did, with a little help from shoddy defence behind Josh Tomlin. The 32-yearold right-hander had a 5.90 ERA in the first inning, for the season, including playoffs, and was starting on just three days rest for the second time in his major-league career. The first came on July 31, 2010 in Toronto, his second career start.
After Tomlin recorded two quick outs in the first, third baseman Kris Bryant lifted a long home run to left on a two-strike pitch, Tomlin’s eighth of the game. Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist ripped hard singles to put runners on the corners, setting up the key play of the game that shortened Tomlin’s time on the mound.
Russell lifted a routine flyball to right-centre. Tyler Naquin and Lonnie Chisenhall converged with the right fielder finally giving way, but running unnecessarily in front of his centre-fielder, creating some confusion that likely caused Naquin to lose focus. The ball dropped safely to the turf. Rizzo scored, while coach Mike Sarbaugh furiously waved Zobrist after him. The short throw went to Jason Kipnis, who short-hopped the catcher with the ball bouncing away while Zobrist and Roberto Perez collided in an old-school collision that was challenged by neither.
Tomlin made it through the second inning, but in the third, after walking leadoff man Kyle Schwarber, Tomlin allowed one out singles to Rizzo and Zobrist to load the bases. After 48 pitches, Tomlin was done for the night.
Enter right-hander Dan Otero, who has been reliable and useful for most of the playoffs. On a 2-0 pitch, Russell slammed a long home-run drive 434 feet into the centre-field bleachers. That was the biggest lead by either team in the World Series.
For the Cubs, right-hander Jake Arrieta worked into the sixth inning, allowing two runs before handing the lead to the bullpen for the final 10 outs.
Two of the three hits Arrieta allowed were to Jason Kipnis, including a double off the wall and a home run in the fifth. Bryant had four hits in the contest, while Rizzo had three hits and a two-run homer off Mike Clevinger in the ninth.