Cubs stay alive with victory in Game 5, move World Series to Cleveland
Put those champagne bottles back in the fridge, Cleveland.
At least for now.
Jon Lester tossed six solid innings, Kris Bryant sparked a three-run fourth inning with a solo home run, and Aroldis Chapman recorded an eight-out save to preserve a nail-biting 3-2 victory in Game 5 of the World Series at Wrigley Field on Sunday night.
The Cubs, appearing in the Fall Classic for the first time in 71 years and looking for their first title since 1908, were on the brink of elimination after a lackluster display in their second successive loss before a hushed Wrigley Field crowd. They had fallen 7-2 in Game 4 the previous night.
But after this nerve-wracking outing, the two clubs move to Cleveland’s Progressive Field for Game 6 on Tuesday, when Chicago starter Jake Arrieta will square off against Josh Tomlin.
In the most important start of his career as a Cub, Lester did just enough to silence the Indians’ confident lineup. The lefthander scatted four hits and surrendered two runs, while striking out five.
After giving up a solo home run to Jose Ramirez in the second, Lester benefited from Bryant’s homer in the fourth, followed by a gritty rally that bounced Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer from the contest. Anthony Rizzo followed Bryant’s longball with a hard double, Zobrist connected on a base hit, and then Addison Russell handed Chicago a one-run lead by beating out an RBI infield single. The Cubs forged a 3-1 edge off David Ross’ sacrifice fly.
The Indians cut the deficit in half when Francisco Lindor singled in Rajai Davis in the sixth, but they couldn’t muster the tying run as Chapman entered with one out in the seventh and delivered his usual 100mph fastballs and eight clutch outs.
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