Chicago Cubs even baseball World Series
November 2, 2016
Chicago baseball fans breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday night after the Cubs evened the series with Cleveland to force a Game 7 in the World Series.
Going into Game 6, the Cleveland Indians needed just one win to clinch the World Series, but the Cubs had different plans.
Chicago got three runs in the first inning off of pitcher Josh Tomlin, all with two outs. Kris Bryant hit a 433-foot home run to left field, putting Chicago up 1-0. Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist then followed with singles and both came home on Addison Russell's pop-fly double to right-center. The ball fell between center fielder Tyler Naquin and right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall when they failed to communicate properly.
Addison Russell MVP?
The most valuable player of the game had to be 22-year-old shortstop Addison Russell who had six runs batted in (RBIs) through three innings, including a grand slam off Cleveland reliever Dan Otero that gave the Chicago Cubs a 7-0 lead. Russell's six RBIs tied the record for a World Series game. It was the first-ever grand slam by a Cubs player in the World Series.
The Indians got one back when Jason Kipnis doubled off the left-center-field wall leading off the fourth inning for Cleveland's first hit against Cubs starter Jake Arrieta. One out later, Kipnis scored on Mike Napoli's single.
In the fifth, Cleveland scored again when Kipnis hit his second home run of the World Series, pulling the Indians to 7-2.
That was it until the ninth inning when Chicago got two more runs thanks to Anthony Rizzo's homer which extended Chicago's lead to 9-2.
Cleveland got one more in the bottom of the ninth to make the final score 9-3.
This means that Chicago Cubs fans are one game away from a world championship that has eluded them since 1908. If they manage to win Game 7, they will be the the first team since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates to rally from a 3-1 Series deficit by winning the final two games on the road. Cleveland fans are almost as hungry as Cubs fans, as the Indians haven't won the World Series since 1948.
av/jm