Cubs win Game 5 to stay alive
October 31, 2016
Aroldis Chapman, a Cuban defector in his seventh season in Major League Baseball, got the final eight outs for the Cubs as they beat the Indians 3-2 in Game 5. The win was the Cubs' first World series victory in Chicago's Wrigley field since October 8, 1945.
The left-handed pitcher (pictured above), a closer who had not pitched in the seventh inning of a game since 2012, allowed just one hit in the final 2 2/3 innings of the game, and 15 of his 42 pitches clocked in at 100 miles per hour (160.9 kilometers per hour) or faster.
"I didn't expect to come in so early, but I mentally prepared myself," Chapman, 28, said through a translator after the game. "I was ready to come in at a moment's notice."
Cleveland took the lead in the second inning when Jose Ramirez hit a solo home run. Kris Bryant matched Ramirez's home run with one of his own in the fourth inning before Addison Russell and David Ross drove in two more runs in the frame. Francisco Lindor pulled a run back for the Indians when he knocked in Rajai Davis on an RBI single.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon then called upon Chapman with one out in the seventh inning, trying to protect the one-run lead. The Wrigley Field crowd erupted when Chapman struck out Ramirez on a 101-mile-per-hour fast ball for the final out of the game.
The World Series now heads back to Cleveland for the final two games. Leading three games to two, The Indians need to win just once to secure their first championship since 1948. The Cubs meanwhile are trying to become the first team since the Kansas City Royals to overcome a 3-1 World Series deficit.
"It's going to be crazy. It's going to be nuts," Indians first baseman Mike Napoli said of the home crowd. "They're going to be pretty fired up, and they're going to get us going."