Cubs roll, force Game 7
Russell, Bryant deliver biggest blows
CLEVELAND — For all the challenges he has met, Indians manager Terry Francona never has seen a team begin to unravel like this, not in the World Series. He’s never led a club so close to falling apart on baseball’s biggest stage.
Heck, Tito didn’t even lose a game in two Fall Classics with the Red Sox.
Now Francona has to ensure the Indians don’t split at the seams in the face of a near-complete comeback by Theo Epstein’s Cubs.
The Cubs were the best team in the majors in the regular season but never fully looked the part during the World Series until Game 6’s 9-3 win last night.
The Indians, meanwhile, reverted to the hapless form that made “Major League” so entertaining: dropped balls, bad pitching.
“Tonight was a tough night,” Francona said. “Get philosophical or whatever, have sayings. . . . I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s a really important game tomorrow. And we’ll be really excited to play.”
The Cubs’ Jake Arrieta struck out nine in 52⁄ innings en route to his second win of the World Series.
An Addison Russell grand slam in the third inning off Dan Otero — a reliever for the Indians facing his first batter after starter Josh Tomlin was pulled — helped put Chicago on equal footing with Cleveland, one win from a title.
Kris Bryant homered in the first inning, and Anthony Rizzo in the ninth, keeping a loud road presence from Cubs fans all night.
In tonight’s Game 7, a 108year title drought for the Cubs or a 68-year dearth for the Indians will end.
Corey Kluber, the winning pitcher in Games 1 and 4, is slated to go on short rest for the Indians.
Kyle Hendricks, the 2016 National League ERA leader, goes for the Cubs, with Jon Lester and everyone else ready in relief. Catcher David Ross went trick-ortreating with Lester and their kids before flying to Cleveland, and he knows how excited Cubs fans are.
“Some lady who had to be about 60 was sprinting down the street because she didn’t answer the door,” Ross said. “Saw it was me and Jon Lester walking around. It was a little crazy, but it was fun.
“I can’t wait to see the anxiety level of the fans back home.”
Ross, who is retiring, knows he’s headed for the last game of his career.
“Pretty amazing. Scary in one sense and kind of cool in another,” he said.
The Indians were sunk from the first inning, surprising considering Tomlin retired the first two Cubs he faced and was ahead 0-2 on the third, Bryant.
Bryant homered on an 0-2 pitch, a 433-foot shot to left field. He’s gone deep in back-to-back games.
Rizzo and Ben Zobrist singled off Tomlin, who thrives on control not stuff, before Russell hit a soft fly to right-center. Center fielder Tyler Naquin and right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall let the ball fall between them, an apparent lack of communication and a horrible mistake.
Two more runs scored for a 3-0 lead, Zobrist after he barreled into catcher Roberto Perez, who was in the base path without the ball. The hit was legal, a rarity in today’s game with rules in place to eliminate hazardous plays at home.
In the third inning, Kyle Schwarber led off with a walk. Rizzo and Zobrist had one-out hits later in the inning, setting up Russell’s grand slam. Russell hammered a 2-0 two-seamer from Otero that backed up over the plate to center field for a 7-0 lead.
The distance was an estimated 434 feet, 12 inches longer than Bryant’s shot.
“The key to that at-bat was to not swing at the first two pitches,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “If you get over-eager right there, you’re going to put that sinker in play, it’s a ground ball to third base, inning over, none of this happens.”
A Jason Kipnis leadoff double in the fourth set up the Indians’ first run on a Mike Napoli single two batters later.
Kipnis hit a solo shot in the fifth inning, cutting the Cubs’ lead to 7-2, where the score stood in the ninth when Rizzo clocked a tworun shot. The Indians got one run back in the ninth.
“I carry my dad’s hat with me,” Maddon said. “He passed away in 2002, we won the World Series (with the Angels), and I’ve had his old Angels hat in my bag since then. . . . I held on to his hat a little bit this morning, and that’s probably the omen in a sense going into tonight’s game.”
Despite a late lead that never was fewer than five runs, Aroldis Chapman, the Cubs’ flame-throwing closer, threw 20 pitches. He threw almost 50 while getting eight outs in Sunday’s Game 5 victory.
“We’ve talked about this before we even started, was try to make them use pitching even in a loss,” Francona said.
Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, the Indians’ two huge weapons out of the bullpen, did not pitch.