Cubs force a World Series Game 7 with blowout win over Indians
After 103 wins, and 108 years, these Chicago Cubs just weren't going down that easily.
A three-run first inning and Addison Russell's third-inning grand slam put the National League champs up early in Tuesday's Game 6, and with Jake Arrieta on the mound for the final time in 2016, it was a lead they didn't come close to surrendering. Facing elimination at Progressive Field, the Cubs topped the Cleveland Indians 9-3, forcing a seventh game of this historic World Series that will end on Wednesday night.
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Kris Bryant connected in the first off Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin with a solo home run to left. Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist each singled immediately after the shot, and came around to score on a double by Russell in the next at-bat -- with the help of a misplayed fly ball by Indians outfielders Lonnie Chisenhall and Tyler Naquin.
Russell came up in another big-time spot two innings later after a walk and a pair of singles, and took Dan Otero's 2-0 fastball over the tall left-center field fence to give Chicago a 7-0 lead.
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Arrieta's pitch count ran high in the early going, but it hardly affected the 30-year-old's effectiveness. Save for a blip in the fourth inning and a Jason Kipnis fifth-inning solo homer, the Indians couldn't string together much of anything offensively. Over his 5 2/3 innings and 102 pitches, the reigning Cy Young winner struck out nine while walking three and allowing three hits.
Chicago skipper Joe Maddon pulled him after a sixth-inning walk to Lonnie Chisenhall, but Mike Montgomery immediately extinguished that flame with a force out.
Russell's six RBIs were a career-high, including regular season play, and matched his total from the entire 2016 postseason entering Tuesday. Bryant totaled four hits on the night, and Rizzo put the game on ice with a two-run bomb in the ninth inning to make it 9-2.
Kipnis was the primary source of what little offense Cleveland could muster, going 3-for-4 including a solo shot in the fifth. Mike Napoli drove Kipnis in with a single the inning prior -- a frame that ended with two Indians runners stranded in scoring position.
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Maddon called on closer Aroldis Chapman to enter in the seventh inning with two outs and a runner on, and the flamethrower got Francisco Lindor to ground out -- though not without incident. Lindor was originally ruled to have beat Chapman to first base on the grounder to Rizzo, but the call was overturned. Chapman came up limping after the play, but took the mound to hurl a scoreless eighth inning.
Maddon sent Chapman back out for the ninth equipped with a 9-2 lead -- a move that puzzled many with Game 7 looming Wednesday -- but pulled him after walking Brandon Guyer to lead off the inning. Pedro Strop and Travis Wood navigated through the final three outs to even the series at three games a piece.
The win fittingly pushes this memorable Fall Classic to a seventh and decisive game to be played Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET in Cleveland. Corey Kluber will man the rubber for the Indians on short rest again -- his third start in the last nine days -- opposite regular season ERA leader Kyle Hendricks for Chicago.
The Indians' seemingly insurmountable 3-1 series lead has now vanished. All that's left is one game -- the biggest game each player on either team will have ever been a part of. The winner not only hoists a World Series trophy, but exorcises decades-old demons.
The loser? Well, after years and years of waiting, what's another 150 sunrises until opening day?
- By John Dorn
