Rozner: Trailing again, Cubs in familiar spot

Down 2-1 in the series and lifeless at the plate.

Where have we seen this movie before?

For the second straight series, the Cubs trail after three games and were shut out in the process, but this time it's the World Series after the Cleveland pitching staff dominated Friday night in a 1-0 victory in the first Fall Classic event at Wrigley Field in 71 years.

Unfortunately for the 41,703 in attendance, the only time it got really loud was when comedian Bill Murray screamed something inaudible that may or may not have been “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch.

The only certainty now is that the Cubs will have to win their first title since 1908 in Cleveland, if they are to ultimately win it, and that the long road to Ohio will be occupied by Cubs fans next week if there is to be a Game 6.

But this is precisely how the Indians got this far, against ridiculous odds, pitching lights out against three awesome offensive teams, and they did it again in Game 3, allowing the Cubs 5 lonely hits.

“You have to beat the best to be the best, and you see a lot of great pitching this time of year,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. “We're seeing great pitching and you have to adjust to it.”

Until the ninth, the only Cubs runner to reach third was on a two-out triple by Jorge Soler in the bottom of the seventh, on a misplay by right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall, but Javy Baez rolled to short to end the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, Anthony Rizzo led off with a basehit to right, but Ben Zobrist struck out and pinch runner Chris Coghlan moved to second on a Willson Contreras grounder to third.

After Jason Heyward reached on an error, Baez fished on a 2-1 breaking pitch in the dirt and struck out on a high fastball to end the game, giving Cody Allen his sixth save and the Indians the victory.

“We did a nice job the first two series. Maybe it was all the hoopla today,” Maddon said. “But I don't think our guys were overwhelmed by the situation.

“Our minds were working good, as evidenced by how well we played on defense. We were very aware on defense.”

The Cubs, who scored the third-most runs in baseball in the regular season, have been shut out four times in 13 postseason games, including twice in this series.

But down 2-1 to the Dodgers in the NLCS and having been shut out the previous two games, the Cubs exploded for 23 runs over the next three and put Los Angeles away in six games.

“It's the same situation as with the Dodgers a few days ago,” Maddon said. “I have all the confidence in the world that we'll fix it by tomorrow.”

With Carl Edwards pitching his second inning for the home team in the seventh, a Coco Crisp single brought home the only run of the game. The softly hit single to right dropped in front of Soler, a play Heyward might have made had he been participating from the start of the festivities.

The Cubs got only their third hit of the night in the seventh when right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall misplayed a Soler pop down the line, but his triple went for naught when Baez rolled over a 2-0 pitch and grounded to short to end the inning.

Baez was 0-for-4 and left 5 runners on base as the Cubs went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 7 runners on base. In 3 games, the Cubs are 4-for-30 with runners in scoring position and have left 29 runners on base.

“We have to get our strike zone organized and we'll be fine,” Maddon said. “Otherwise, I thought we were fine and we were fine.

“I thought our guys were ready to play and we had a good vibe about us. We'll be ready to go tomorrow.”

So the Cubs will get their second shot at Corey Kluber Saturday on three days' rest, and they like their chances after working him for 88 pitches in 6 innings of Game 1.

“It's difficult for pitchers to replicate time after time and to be as sharp, especially on short rest,” Maddon said. “We saw him just a couple days ago so hopefully that works to our advantage.”

It better or the Cubs will be in a big hole in the World Series.

But it's not like they haven't been in this situation before.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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