ALIVE AFTER 5
Cubs win squeaker to force Series back to Cleveland
It took three tries— and nearly three innings from their closer — but the Cubs won a World Series game at Wrigley Field for the first time in 71 years Sunday.
They did it just in time to win an all- expenses- paid trip back to Cleveland with their season alive, if not kicking, after a 3- 2 nail- biter against the Indians in Game 5.
Left- hander Jon Lester started the must- win game, but the pitching story on this night was the biggest — and longest — save of closer Aroldis Chapman’s career.
Chapman, who was acquired from the Yankees at the trade deadline, retired eight of the final 10 Indians batters of the game— four of them on strikeouts — to nurse a one- run lead all the way to the shores of Lake Erie.
‘‘ Gutsy,’’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. ‘‘ He told me it’s big cojones.”
The only thing bigger might have been the magnitude of the Cubs’ first actual must- win game of the season, an elimination game created by back- to- back losses to the Indians in Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Saturday.
It set up perhaps the most fitting way for manager Joe Maddon’s team to head out of town for the final time this season. The Cubs’ final road trip will start on Halloween with a late flight. That will allow players to trick- ortreat with their kids.
The posted schedule for the trip included the words: ‘‘ Halloween costumes are encouraged.’’
Not that it matters what the Cubs wear. They’ll all be dressed like players with a chance to win the Cubs’ first World Series title since 1908.
‘‘ It’s awesome, but we’ve still got some work to do,’’ leadoff man Dexter Fowler said. ‘‘ We’ve got two more games. This is a step in the right direction.’’
Right- hander Jake Arrieta, who won the National League Cy Young Award last season, will start for the Cubs in Game 6 on Tuesday against Indians righthander Josh Tomlin. Arrieta won Game 2 of the Series in Cleveland.
‘‘ Why not us?’’ said third baseman Kris Bryant, whose leadoff home run in the fourth inning tied Game 5 and began a three- run rally. ‘‘ I feel like we play our best with our backs up against thewall.
‘‘ Hopefully we can get out there and win Game 6 because you never know what can happen in Game 7. But we’re all about writing our own history. This team is a special one, and we look at so many times throughout the year where we haven’t been playing good, but I feel like we turn that around.’’
The Cubs scored in only one inning in their final home game of the season, but the three runs in the fourth were enough— and more than they had scored in the previous two games combined.
After the Indians pulled to 3- 2 on an RBI single by Francisco Lindor with two outs in the sixth, Maddon got as aggressive as he has in two years managing the Cubs.
He pinch- hit lefty- hitting catcher Miguel Montero for starter David Ross with two outs and nobody on in the sixth. And after Montero struck out to end the inning, he emptied his bench of able- bodied catchers by sending rookieWillson Contreras into the game to catch rookie Carl Edwards Jr. on a double switch to start the seventh, pulling Lester at 90 pitches with a 3- 2 lead.
Edwards immediately gave up a leadoff single to Mike Napoli, and a passed ball on Contreras put the potential tying run in scoring position with nobody out. After Edwards got Carlos Santana to fly to left for the first out, Maddon went to Chapman for the would- be eight- out save.
It was the first time Chapman had been used in the seventh inning since he became a regular closer inMay 2012.
The runners Chapman yielded
came on a hit batsman with two outs in the seventh and on a single with one out in the eighth that would have been an out if he had covered first on Rizzo’s diving stop.
Instead Rajai Davis stole second and third, threatening to tie the score, before Chapman struck out Lindor with a 101 mph fastball to leave him there.
‘‘ We’ve got to go on another one- game win streak,’’ Rizzo said. ‘‘ We’ve got to do whatever it takes to win. We feel good. We’re obviously happy right now, but we’ve got to gear it up for Tuesday.’’
Fowler even suggested they’d make a team trip back to Wrigley for one last celebration.
‘‘ We’ve still got some work to do,’’ he said. ‘‘ But I think the [ clubhouse] party room will be utilized when we win a World Series.’’