Starting pitchers tonight were John Lackey (Chicago) and righthander Corey Kluber (Cleveland).
38-year old righthander John Lackey was 11-8 this season with a 3.35 ERA and 180 strikeouts in 188 1/3 inning pitched.
Lackey plays in the Major League since 2002.
After having played eight seasons for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, he played for Boston Red Sox since 2010.
During the 2013 season, he was traded to St. Louis Cardinals, then became a Free Agent after the 2015 season.
In December, he signed with the Cubs.
Lackey was twice on a team that won the World Series, in 2002 with the Angels and in 2013 with the Red Sox.
Tonight, Lackey made his third start of the postseason.
He was the starter in Game 4 of the NLDS against San Francisco Giants, but had a no-decision and threw four innings in the game in which the Cubs won the Series.
Lackey then also started Game 4 in the NLCS against Los Angeles Dodgers and again had a no-decision.
He again threw four innings and gave up three hits.
In his career, Lackey pitched in 20 games against the Indians and is 8-9.
30-year old Corey Kluber was 18-9 this season and closed with a 3.14 ERA, while striking out 227 batters in 215 innings.
Kluber pitched in 32 games (all starts).
Kluber made his debut in the Major League in 2011 and since then has played for Cleveland.
In 2014, Kluber won the Cy Young Award in the American League.
Before today, Kluber already started four games this postseason and won three of them.
In the AL Division Series against Boston Red Sox, Kluber started Game 2 and then was the winning pitcher, striking out seven batters in seven innings, while giving up only three hits.
He then started Game 1 of the AL Championship Series against Toronto Blue Jays.
This time, he struckout six batters and gave up six hits in 6 1/3 inning and again was the winning pitcher.
On short days rest, Kluber then also started Game 4 against Toronto, but then was the losing pitcher, giving up four hits and two runs in five innings, while striking out seven batters.
Last Tuesday, Kluber was the starting and winning pitcher in the opener of the World Series against Chicago Cubs.
The Indians won 6-0 and Kluber had a strong outing, striking out nine batters in six innings, while giving up only four hits.
With eight strikeouts in the first three innings, the righthander set a record.
In his career, Kluber pitched one game against the Cubs and then had a no-decision.
Before tonight's game, there was another ceremony to honor players.
Before Game 2, the Hank Aaron Award was handed out to Kris Bryant (Chicago Cubs) and David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox) and before Game 3, the Roberto Clemente Award was handed out to Curtis Granderson (New York Mets).
...Kenley Jansen...
...National League Reliever of the Year Award...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Tonight, the winners of the annual Reliever of the Year Award were announced during a press conference.
The Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award was handed to Kenley Jansen of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year Award went to Zach Britton of the Baltimore Orioles.
Both Britton and Jansen closed the season with 47 saves and played in the All Star Game.
Rivera and Hoffman took part in the ceremony, as was MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre and Doug Elliot, President of The Hartford, which sponsored the presentation.
Britton and Jansen were also honored in the field before the game.
The ceremonial first pitch tonight was thrown by former Cubs-pitchers Greg Maddux and Ferguson Jenkins.
Cubs-starter John Lackey retired the side in the top of the first inning, including two strikeouts, then was supported with a run moments later.
Dexter Fowler led off for the Cubs with a double, then scored on an one-out single by Anthony Rizzo.
With two outs, Rizzo stole second base, then a strikeout ended the inning, but Chicago had opened the score, 1-0.
The lead was shortlived, as Cleveland answered with two runs in the top of the second inning off of John Lackey, who made his 23rd start tonight in his postseason-career, which is the most for any active pitcher.
He moved into sixth place on the all-time list, passing legendary Whitey Ford.
The record for most postseason-starts is 44 and was set by Andy Pettitte.
Carlos Santana led off the second inning with a homerun to tie the score.
With one out, Lonnie Chisenhall reached on a throwing error, then advanced on a grounder.
With Chisenhall on second base, two outs and pitcher Corey Kluber on deck, it was decided to issue an intentional walk to Tyler Naquin.
That not only created a force play, but it was hoped to end the inning by eliminating Kluber.
But that scenario was re-written by Kluber.
He reached on an infield-hit towards third baseman Kris Bryant, who then followed with a throwing error (his second).
Both runners advanced on the hit by Kluber, then took an extra base on the error, meaning Chisenhall scored to give the Indians a 2-1 lead.
...Carlos Santana...
...homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the second inning, Jason Heyward singled with one out for the Cubs.
But hereafter, a double play-grounder followed by Javier Baez.
He initially was ruled safe at first base, but that call was overturned after a challenge.
Cleveland added another run in the top of the third inning.
Jason Kipnis led off with a double, then scored on a following single by hot-hitting Francisco Lindor to make it 3-1.
The Cubs got on base again in its third at bat.
With two outs, Kris Bryant walked and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch, but Corey Kluber then struckout Ben Zobrist to end the inning.
After two scoreless innings, Cleveland scored again in the top of the sixth off of new pitcher Mike Montgomery.
The lefthander first walked lead-off hitter Francisco Lindor.
Hereafter, Carlos Santana lined the ball back to Montgomery, whose glove was knocked off his hand.
He was able to pick up the ball and threw it to first base, but Santana had reached with an infield-hit.
Moments later, Santana was forced out on a comeback-grounder by José Ramirez.
But that brought Lindor to third base and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Lonnie Chisenhall.
When next batter Roberto Perez walked, a pitching change followed.
Justin Grimm took over with runners on first and second base and two outs and closed with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Cubs appeared to have something in the making when Anthony Rizzo led off with a double into deep leftfield.
He barely missed a homerun, as the wind kept the ball in the field.
Corey Kluber then kept him on second base, as he retired the next three batters.
Cleveland then put the lead almost out of reach in the top of the seventh inning.
Pinch-hitter Coco Crisp led off with a double and moved on a wild pitch.
Hereafter, Rajai Davis was hit by a pitch and that brought in new pitcher Travis Wood.
But he was greeted with a 3-run homerun by Jason Kipnis, who grew up near Chicago and was a Cubs-fan throughout his youth, as was most of his family.
The homerun lifted the lead to 7-1.
It also was the first 3-run homerun hit in Wrigley Field in a World Series-game by a visiting player since legendary Babe Ruth did it in 1932.
After being held scoreless after the first inning, the Cubs scored again in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Which was only their second run in 21 innings!
And they did it off relief-ace Andrew Miller.
The lefthander entered the game in the seventh and then retired the side.
But after thrown 16 scoreless innings in this postseason, Miller's streak ended when he gave up a lead-off homerun to Dexter Fowler in the eighth that made it a 7-2 score.
Herafter, a groundout and two strikeouts followed.
That gave him 29 strikeouts this postseason to set a new record.
The previous record of 28 was set in 2002 by Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels.
With a 7-2 lead, Dan Otero took the mound for the Indians in the bottom of the ninth inning.
He gave up an one-out single to Addison Russell.
Hereafter, Otero retired Jason Heyward and Javier Baez to seal the victory.
And with that, Cleveland took a 3-1 lead in the World Series, one win away from the title.
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Cleveland one win away from World Series-title; Award for Kenley Jansen!
CHICAGO, Illinois (USA) -
Cleveland Indians won 7-2 against Chicago Cubs on Saturday-evening (October 29) in Game 4 of the best-of-seven World Series to take a 3-1 lead.
With that, the Indians are now one win away from its first Championship-title since 1948.
On Tuesday-evening, Cleveland shutout Chicago 6-0 in the opener.
The Cleveland-pitching dominated tonight, led by starter Corey Kluber, who set a record by striking out eight batters in the first three innings.
Cleveland collected ten basehits, including two homeruns by catcher Roberto Perez, who batted in four runs.