Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Trevor Bauer (Cleveland) and righthander Jake Arrieta (Chicago).
25-year old Bauer was 12-8 this season with a 4.26 ERA.
In 35 games (28 starts), Bauer struckout 168 batters in 190 innings.
Bauer made his Major League-debut in 2012 pitching for Arizona Diamondbacks.
He came to Cleveland in December 2012 in a 9-player, 3-team trade, which also included short stop Didi Gregorius, who went from Cincinnati Reds to Arizona in this trade.
In the ALDS against Boston Red Sox, Bauer started Game 1.
He then had a no-decision, giving up six hits (two homeruns) and three runs in 4 2/3 inning, but also struckout six batters.
His next start came in the ALCS against Toronto Blue Jays.
He then started Game 3, but had to be replaced with two outs in the first inning, as his pinkie started bleeding.
Bauer was moved from Game 2 to Game 3 after he had cut his pinkie while repairing a drone.
Bauer faced the Cubs once in his career and then was the winning pitcher.
30-year old Arrieta was 18-8 this season with a 3.10 ERA, pitching in 31 games (all starts).
He struckout 190 batters in 197 1/3 inning.
Arrieta made his big league-debut in 2010, pitching for Baltimore Orioles.
In July 2013, he came to the Cubs in a trade with the Orioles together with reliever Pedro Strop.
In the NLDS against San Francisco Giants, Arrieta started Game 3, but had a no-decision, giving up six hits in six innings.
He also started Game 3 of the NLCS against Los Angeles Dodgers and then was the losing pitcher, giving up six hits and four runs in five innings.
Arrieta last pitched against the Indians in 2015 and then was the losing pitcher.
In his career, he is 1-1 in four games against Cleveland.
...Carlos Baerga (left) with José Javier Valentín...
...as coaches of Puerto Rico during the...
...2012 Haarlem Baseball Week in the Netherlands...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Before the game, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by former Cleveland Indians-player Carlos Baerga, who in 1995 played for the team when it won the title in the American League.
On Tuesday, his then-teammate Kenny Lofton had thrown the first pitch.
In 2012, Baerga was one of the coaches of the National Team of Puerto Rico that participated in the Haarlem Baseball Week in Haarlem (Netherlands).
In that same event, Cubs-third baseman Kris Bryant also participated with Team USA.
Also before the game, during a press conference, the annual Hank Aaron Awards were announced, then presented on the field to the most outstanding offensive player in each league.
David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox) won the award in the American League and Kris Bryant won in the National League.
The awards were handed out by Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and Major League Commissioner Rob Manfred.
The Hank Aaron Award was first handed out in 1999 to honor the 25th anniversary of the Aaron breaking the all-time homerun record of Babe Ruth when he hit his 715th homerun in 1974.
Aaron concluded his career with 755 homeruns.
Fans can cast votes, as does special panel of Hall of Fame-players, which in the end results in the two winners.
In his last season, Ortiz batted .315 with 38 homeuns and 127 runs batted in.
Bryant batted .292 with 39 homeruns and 102 RBI's.
On a cold evening (43 Fahrenheit, 6 Celsius), the Cubs were off to a better start than the day before, as it opened the score in the top of the first inning off of Trevor Bauer.
With one out, the righthander gave up a single to Kris Bryant, who then scored all the way from first base when Anthony Rizzo followed with a double.
Rizzo stranded on second base, as Ben Zobrist lined out and Bauer closed with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the first, the Indians also reached base immediately off of Jake Arrieta, who last year won the Cy Young Award for Best Pitcher.
With two outs, Arrieta walked Francisco Lindor and Mike Napoli.
But they were left behind when a flyout ended the at bat.
In the top of the second, Javier Baez led off with an infield-hit for the Cubs.
But he didn't got beyond first base, as Bauer retired the next three batters.
The inning ended when a line drive into deep rightfield by Addison Russell was caught.
The Cubs got its next runner in scoring position in the top of the third and also added its next run.
With two outs, Bauer walked Anthony Rizzo and then gave up a single to Ben Zobrist.
With runners on first and second base, Kyle Schwarber was the next batter and delivered a runscoring single that made it 2-0.
Schwarber was added to the roster of the Cubs officially on Tuesday-morning after he had been sidelined almost the entire season after he had torn two ligaments in his left knee in a collission on April 7.
Schwarber stranded on first base, but the Cubs had doubled their lead.
After having walked two batters in the first inning, Jake Arrieta retired the side in both the second and third inning, including three strikeouts.
The Cubs got on base again again in the top of the fourth.
Bauer walked lead-off hitter Willson Contreras, but then Jorge Soler grounded into a double play.
Addison Russell then followed with a single and that led to a pitching change, as Zach McAllister took over from Bauer.
He ended the inning with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the fourth, Arrieta got his first baserunner since the first inning.
After having retired nine batters in a row, he walked José Ramirez with two outs, but he was left behind.
The Cubs did some more scoring in the top of the fifth.
With one out, Anthony Rizzo walked and scored on a following triple by Ben Zobrist to make it a 3-0 score.
Hereafter, Bryan Shaw became the new pitcher for the Indians, but he was greeted with another runscoring single by Kyle Schwarber.
Moments later, Schwarber advanced on a wild pitch, but then Javier Baez struckout for the second time.
Next, the inning could have been over on a grounder by Willson Contreras, but he reached on an error, then Jorge Soler walked, which loaded the bases.
Jason Heyward was then inserted as pinch-runner for Soler and when Shaw followed with another walk for Addison Russell, it produced another Chicago-run and lifted the lead to 5-0.
Three runners then stranded when Shaw closed with a strikeout.
With his triple, Zobrist recorded his second basehit in the game.
He also had done something special in the opening game on Tuesday.
He then collected three basehits, just as he had done of the opening game of last years World Series when he played for Kansas City Royals.
With that, Zobrist became only the second player in history to register three basehits in the openers of two consecutive World Series.
The other player?
Legendary Hall of Famer Babe Ruth did it in 1927 and 1928!
By the way, Chicago-catcher David Ross (who didn't start tonight) also did something special in the opener.
When he singled in the third inning, he became the oldest player in the history of the Cubs to hit a basehit in the World Series with his 39 years and 220 days.
The oldest player before him?
Gabby Hartnett, also a legendary Hall of Famer, was 37 years and 289 days when he hit a basehit in the 1938 Series!
Another stat-fact from the opener?
Cleveland-catcher Roberto Perez then hit two homeruns.
With that, he became only the fourth player in history with two homeruns and at least four RBI's in his first World Series-game.
The others are Ted Kluszewski (Chicago White Sox, 1959), Willie Aikens (Kansas City Royals, 1980) and Andruw Jones (Atlanta Braves, 1996).
Of this quartet, Jones is the only one with five runs batted in.
Perez also became only the fifth catcher to hit two homeruns in a World Series-game.
The others are Yogi Berra (New York Yankees, 1956), Gene Tenace (Oakland A"s, 1972), Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds, 1976) and Gary Carter (New York Mets, 1986).
Back to tonight's game.
In the bottom of the fifth, Jake Arrieta retired the side again to keep his No-Hitter intact.
In the top of the sixth, Danny Salazar became the new pitcher for Cleveland.
He also was added to the roster after having recovered from an injury.
He had been sidelined with a strained forearm since early September.
Salazar got two quick outs, but then walked both Ben Zobrist and Kyle Schwarber.
Hereafter, the inning ended when Javier Baez flied out.
Arrieta's No-Hitter ended with one out in the bottom of the sixth.
Jason Kipnis then lined the ball through the middle into right-centerfield for a double.
Kipnis then moved to third base on a grounder by Francisco Lindor and he then ended the shutout by scoring on a wild pitch.
When next batter Mike Napoli singled, the evening ended for Arrieta.
Lefthander Mike Montgomery took over the pitching for the Cubs and ended the at bat with a comeback-grounder.
In the top of the seventh, Chicago again got on the bases, this time off of reliever Jeff Manship, who took over from Danny Salazar
Manship walked lead-off hitter Willson Contreras, then saw Jason Heyward line out to centerfield.
Hereafter, Addison Russell grounded to short stop Francisco Lindor, who made a nice play and tossed the ball to second baseman Jason Kipnis, who then dropped the ball for an error,
The bases then got loaded when Dexter Fowler singled.
That brought in new pitcher Dan Otero.
A force out at the plate then followed on a grounder towards third by Kris Bryant and a flyout ended the at bat, leaving Chicago scoreless.
In the bottom of the seventh, Montgomery struckout three batters.
After having eliminated the first two batters, he gave up a single and issued a walk, but then closed with another strikeout.
Montgomery returned to the mound in the bottom of the eighth, while the expected rain began starting to fall.
With two outs, the lefthander have up a single to Mike Napoli and that brought in hardthrowing closer Aroldis Chapman.
The Cuban closed the inning with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the ninth, Cleveland attempted to do something back at the last moment.
With two outs, Brandon Guyer walked, then advanced to second base on a fielder's indifference.
But hereafter, a grounder ended the game and with that, the Cubs evened the Series at 1-1.
|
Chicago comes back to even World Series
CLEVELAND, Ohio (USA) -
After being shutout 6-0 in the opener, Chicago Cubs recovered and won 5-1 on Wednesday-evening (October 26) against Cleveland Indians in Game 2 of the best-of-seven 112th edition of the World Series.
The Series now moves to Chicago and will continue on Friday-evening in Wrigley Field.
Jake Arrieta dominated for the Cubs and took a No-Hitter into the sixth inning.
Leading 2-0, the Cubs rallied for three runs in the fifth.
The Indians were limited to only four basehits in the game, which lasted four hours and four minutes.
The Cubs collected nine hits, including two runscoring singles by Kyle Schwarber and an RBI-triple by Ben Zobrist.