Addison Russell's grand slam off Dan Otero turned the game into a scratch as the Chicago Cubs won game six of the World Series 7-2 and we move to the final game of the season tomorrow night in Cleveland.
Josh Tomlin was the losing pitcher for the Indians in game six while Corey Kluber will to try to win the elusive championship for Cleveland against the Cubs Kyle Hendricks.
Smoke Signals
1) This game seemed cooked and I'll take some psychic blame.
As the flyball hit by Addison Russell off Josh Tomlin floated to the outfield,I thought "Wow,all that and we are going to get out of this with only one run allowed".
That was before Tyler Naquin and Lonnie Chisenhall decided to play "You take it" and the ball hit the ground for a 3-0 Cubs lead.
Inexcusable at the big league level and although I blame Naquin more than Chisenhall for not taking control,both players should be blamed....
2) Tyler Naquin had a chance to redeem himself,but continued his poor hitting when he struck out in the fourth inning with the bases loading.
The whiff ended a possible run for the Indians to get back into the game.
Terry Francona has pushed most of the right buttons in the series,but starting Naquin over Rajai Davis was not one of them...
3) Jason Kipnis was the only Indians hitter to play well with a single,double and homer in game six.
Only Kipnis and Francisco Lindor are hitting over .300 in the series-someone is going to need to snap a slump in game seven..
4) Danny Salazar looked good in his two innings of relief replacing Josh Tomlin.
Salazar whiffed four in two innings and was very strong.
Hindsight is always easy,but perhaps an attempt to get three or four innings from a starting Salazar might avoided the early mess.
I've always been a Josh Tomlin fan,but his stuff is fringy on a good day and a team seeing him for a second time in a series would tend to do better...
5) I was surprised to see the Cubs use Aroldis Chapman in a game they were leading by five runs (at the time) for an inning and a third and 20 pitches.
After Chapman's use in game five,maybe this takes a little but out of him for game seven?
6) So,it is game seven for all the chips in the bowl.
I know some will worry about Corey Kluber again on short rest,but I'll look at the old days of the four man rotation and say this isn't out of the ordinary.
Mickey Lolich won three games in the 1968 World Series,I think Kluber can get this done.
I'm old school anyway with pitchers,I feel Ok...
7) I know many are saying this is a collapse from a 3-1 lead,but did anyone really feel great about Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin in clinching games?
I didn't and that played out that way.
This is the matchup I wanted-Corey Kluber against the one Cubs starter that is best suited for the Indians lineup-Kyle Hendricks.
Let's get em-Go Tribe...
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