Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Corey Kluber (Cleveland) and righthander Kyle Hendricks (Chicago), who both pitched earlier in this World Series.
30-year old Kluber made his sixth postseason-start and his third in this World Series.
He was the winning pitcher in both games he started against the Cubs.
In the opener, he threw six scoreless innings in which he dominated and struckout nine batters, while giving up only four hits.
Four days later, Kluber started Game 4 and this time, he struckout six batters in six innings, giving up five basehits and one run.
Tonight, he again was pitching of short days rest, only four days after his previous start.
26-year old Hendricks made his second start in the World Series and his fifth this postseason.
He was the starter in Game 3 and then had a no-decision.
Hendricks struckout six batters in 4 1/3 inning, while giving up six basehits, but no runs.
Tonight's ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Jim Thome, who played 13 seasons for Cleveland.
...Dexter Fowler...
...lead-off homerun...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
The Cubs opened the score quickly, as lead-off hitter Dexter Fowler connected well on the fourth delivery by starting pitcher Corey Kluber.
The ball ended up over the centerfield-wall for a homerun, which was the first-ever lead-off homerun in a Game 7.
Hereafter, Kyle Schwarber reached on an infield-hit.
With two outs, he stole second base, but then was left behind.
With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Francisco Lindor reached on an error by second baseman Javier Baez.
Moments later, he was forced out.
After Kluber had retired the side in the top of the second inning, the Indians reached base again in its second at bat.
José Ramirez led off with a comeback line drive infield-hit which was deflected by pitcher Kyle Hendricks.
Shortly thereafter, Ramirez was eliminated in a pick-off by Hendricks.
Another basehit followed, this time by Lonnie Chisenhall, but Rajai Davis then grounded into an inning-ending double play.
In the top of the third inning, Kyle Schwarber singled with two outs.
A week ago, Schwarber was cleared to play after having missed the entire season (he played only two games in early April) due to a severe knee-injury (he tore two ligaments).
However, after connecting, Schwarber tried to stretch his single into a double, but was thrown out at second base by rightfielder Lonnie Chisenhall, ending the inning.
In the bottom of the third, the Indians came alongside.
Coco Crisp led off with a double and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Roberto Perez, then scored the tying run on a single by Carlos Santana.
Hereafter, Jason Kipnis grounded the ball to short stop Addison Russell for a possible double play-grounder.
Russell threw the ball to second baseman Javier Baez, who tried to catch the ball barehanded, but then dropped it.
Initially, Santana was called out by 2B Umpire John Hirschbeck, which was followed by a challenge.
Baez clearly had no control over the ball when he dropped it and there also was no 'transfer'-situation.
The play was reviewed and the call was overturned, meaning the Indians had runners on first and second base.
They stranded, as a fly-out and line-out followed.
Chicago re-took the lead in the top of the fourth inning, scoring two runs.
Kris Bryant led off with a single and next batter Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch.
The latter was then forced out, but with runners on the corners, next batter Addison Russell hit a sacrifice fly that enabled Bryant to score and put the Cubs ahead, 2-1.
In Game 6, Russell tied a World Series-record with six runs batted in, becoming the fourth player to do so.
Hereafter, Willson Contreras delivered an RBI-double that made it a 3-1 score.
Chicago added another run in the fifth inning when Javier Baez led off with a homerun.
That led to a pitching change.
Corey Kluber, who had two outstanding outings earlier in this Series and also had been pitched very well for the Indians during the Play-Offs, was replaced by Andrew Miller.
He gave up a single to Dexter Fowler, but a double play followed.
However, the inning wasn't over yet, as Kris Bryant walked and then scored all the way from first base on a single in to rightfield by Anthony Rizzo to make it 5-1.
...Rajai Davis...
...score-tying, 2-run homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the fifth, it was Cleveland that scored twice to narrow the deficit to 5-3.
With two outs, Carlos Santana walked.
That was followed by a battery-change, as Jon Lester entered as new pitcher, as was his catcher David Ross.
Lester was the starter in Game 5 last Sunday and then threw six innings.
Lester's first batter Jason Kipnis reached on an infield-hit, which was followed by a throwing error by Ross, which put the runners on second and third base.
Both runners then scored when Lester uncorked a wild pitch, which ended up near the first base dug-out.
A strikeout ended the inning, but it was a 2-run difference game now.
Chicago got a run back again in the top of the sixth inning when 39-year old David Ross homered with one out.
With that, he became the oldest player ever to hit a homerun in a World Series-game.
He also did it in his last game, as he retires after this season!
In the top of the seventh, Dexter Fowler led off with a single, his third basehit in the game.
With one out, closer Cody Allen was brought in to take over from Miller.
He struckout Kris Bryant, then Fowler was caught stealing to complete a double play.
In the bottom of the seventh, Cleveland got its next runner in scoring position, but didn't score.
With one out, Roberto Perez walked.
He was replaced by pinch-runner Tyler Naquin, who then advanced on a grounder.
Jon Lester then closed with a strikeout.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, José Ramirez reached for Cleveland on an infield-hit.
That brought in Chicago's closer Aroldis Chapman, who needed four outs to secure the win for the Cubs.
However, the Cuban was greeted with a runscoring double to Brandon Guyer, which made it a 6-4 score.
And with that, the suspense in this game remained!
Five pitches later, it was a complete new ball game, as 36-year old Rajai Davis lined the ball into deep leftfield for a 2-run homerun that tied the score at 6-6!
A single by Coco Crisp followed, but a strikeout ended the inning.
But after trailing 5-1 halfway the fifth inning, the Indians had come back and had made it a 6-6 score.
When the ninth inning began, another factor started to be of influence, as the expected rain started to fall!
In the top of the ninth, Cody Allen walked lead-off hitter David Ross, who was then replaced by pinch-runner Chris Coghlan.
Moments later, Coghlan was forced out at second base on a grounder by Jason Heyward.
As it was a hard slide at second base, a review of the play followed to see whether the sliding Coghlan interfered or not.
While two umpires reviewed the play, another one checked with the groundscrew regarding the weather conditions.
Moments later, it was decided that the sliding was within the rules and so, Heyward stayed at first base.
A pitching change followed, as Bryan Shaw took over.
Heyward then stole second base and advanced on a throwing error by new catcher Yan Gomes (who had taken over from David Ross).
In a squeeze-situation, Javier Baez struckout when he bunted foul on strike three.
A great play by short stop Francisco Lindor on a hard grounder by Dexter Fowler then ended the inning.
...Chris Guccione was the 1B Umpire tonight...
...In 2013, he was the HP Umpire in the game between...
...the Netherlands and Cuba in the World Baseball Classic...
...in Tokyo; the Netherlands won 7-6 to reach the Semi-Final...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Chapman returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The hardthrowing Cuban already had thrown a lot in the previous two games.
After pitching one inning on Sunday in Game 5, he surprisingly was brought into Game 6 on Tuesday in the seventh inning in a non-save situation.
He pitched 2 2/3 inning and needed 42 pitches.
And now, he got into the game with two outs in the eighth inning and saw the Indians score three runs!
Chapman recovered and retired the side in the bottom of the ninth.
And with that, the game went into extra innings!
However, when the tenth inning was about to start, the umpires ordered that the field was to be covered by the tarp, as it not only still rained, but more rain was approaching!
Luckily, the rain-delay didn't took that long, as the game resumed after 17 minutes.
In the top of the tenth inning, Kyle Schwarber led off with a single.
Albert Almora, Jr. was then inserted as pinch-runner and advanced on a flyout to deep centerfield by Kris Bryant, who barely missed a homerun.
To set up a force play, next batter Anthony Rizzo was walked intentionally.
However, another powerhiter was coming up, as Ben Zobrist was the next batter and he lined the ball down the leftfield-line for a runscoring double that gave Chicago a renewed 7-6 lead.
With first base open, another intentional walk followed, this time for Addison Russell.
With the bases loaded, Miguel Montero singled through the leftside to bring in another run, 8-6.
That led to a pitching change and coming to the mound was Trevor Bauer, who was the starting pitcher last Sunday in Game 5 and then threw four innings.
Bauer struckout Jason Heyward and got a flyout from Javier Baez to end the inning.
With both teams not having any position player left over on the bench, Carl Edwards, Jr. became the new pitcher for the Cubs in the bottom of the tenth.
He began by striking out Mike Napoli.
A grounder by José Ramirez followed, but then Brandon Guyer walked.
And that brought up Rajai Davis, who had tied up the game in his previous at bat with a 2-run homerun.
And Davis connected well again, as he hit a runscoring single that made it an 8-7 score!
Hereafter, Mike Montgomery took over the pitching.
He got a grounder from Michael Martinez to third baseman Kris Bryant and that ended the game and the World Series!
For the first time in 108 years, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series!
And it ended the Curse of the Billy Goat!
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Chicago needs 10 innings to win World Series and end curse!
CLEVELAND, Ohio (USA) -
In a suspenseful and tremendous Game 7, the Chicago Cubs won 8-7 in ten innings against Cleveland Indians to win the World Series for the first time since 1908!
Now, the Chicago Cubs are the World Series Champion again for the first time in 108 years!
Ben Zobrist was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Series.
Last year, he won the World Series with Kansas City Royals.