HEAVEN & HELL
in his bullpen, and with Francisco Lindor at the plate. As Maddon said, “With the middle of the order up, I thought the game could have been lost right there if we did not take care of it properly.”
Fair enough. But Chapman had thrown 42 pitches in getting the first eight-out save of his career on Sunday night, and though he had an off-day to recover, getting seven outs in this game might have left him running on fumes for a Game 7.
Yet Maddon was going to risk it. He said Chapman would have finished had Anthony Rizzo not pushed the lead to 9-2 in the top of the ninth with a two-run home run — though he also indicated he would have had a limit of some sort on his pitch count.
“I would have,’’ he said. “I was just going to watch him.’’
Still, he made it clear he wasn’t comfortable going to anyone else even with a five-run lead.
“Listen,’’ he said, “I’ve been at this ballpark when we were up by seven or nine and they came back in the last inning. Cleveland has this tendency and this tradition, so I don’t want that to happen.’’
As it was, Maddon had to have Chapman start the ninth because Pedro Strop didn’t have time to get fully warmed up after Rizzo’s home run. Finally, after the Cuban lefty walked Brandon Guyer, Maddon got him out of there at 20 pitches.
So Rizzo’s home run may end up being significant in the Game 7 scenario, if it saved Chapman another 10-15 pitches.
As it is, Chapman has still thrown 62 pitches in the last three days, so it remains to be seen if his stuff is diminished at all in Game 7.
Certainly the Indians’ bullpen, their great strength this postseason, will be a lot fresher, since none of their big guys were needed on Tuesday night, and Andrew Miller hasn’t pitched since Saturday.
That may turn out to be important. Terry Francona made a joke that he wouldn’t know for sure until Wednesday night, but he also made a point of noting that Maddon had to use Chapman.
“You always want to win the game,’’ Francona said, “but the next best thing was try and make them use pitching, even in a loss. So we hung around enough, at least Chapman had to pitch. You never know, maybe that helps us.’’ Ah, let the drama begin to build. The Indians’ lack of starting-pitching depth, the result of injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, finally caught up with them these last two games, but in Game 7 they’ll turn to Corey Kluber, who has pitched to a 0.89 ERA in five starts this postseason. ut he’ll be making his second straight start on short rest, and his third of the postseason. Even so, Francona is thrilled to have his ace going in the finale.
“That’s a good feeling,’’ he said. “And I know they love their guy (Kyle Hendricks) too, as they should. It’s Game 7. You’ve got two really, really good pitchers, and it’s exciting.
“Shoot, I might just wear my uniform home. I might get ice cream on it, though, so I better not.’’
Francona laughed, making reference to the story he told a couple of days ago about being so wired after Game 4 that he ordered $44 worth of ice cream via room service at 3:30 in the morning.
Suffice it to say he wasn’t going to sleep very well after this one, either, with a Game 7 to think about.
They always make for great theater, but this one will be historic as well. Finally, one of these teams is going to win a World Series. The rules guarantee it.
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