Cleveland Indians Win A Nail-Biter, Up 2-1 in World Series

The Cleveland Indians held on for a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs Friday night to go up 2-1 in the World Series.

Is everyone still breathing?

The Cleveland Indians continued an already amazing postseason run Friday night with a stressful 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the first World Series game at Wrigley Field since 1945.

The only run of the game was driven in by Coco Crisp, scoring Michael Martinez for the game’s only run, just like everyone had expected.

But the victory was all about the pitching, as the Miller-Shaw-Allen trio made another appearance in a postseason win. And they lead off the Game 3 takeaways.

The Trio Dominates

Before we get to the bullpen, let’s take a second to realize how great Josh Tomlin did Friday night. He made it through 4 2/3 innings without allowing a run, and only threw 58 pitches.

His performance allowed Andrew Miller to come in and continue his dominance, getting through 1 1/3 innings and ultimately picking up the win.

He was removed to allow Coco Crisp to enter the game, which turned out to be a great move, as the veteran drove in the game’s only run.

Some may have questioned the decision to remove Miller from the game, but Terry Francona trusts the rest of his bullpen enough to get nine outs and finish a game.

So while fans may question the reliability of Bryan Shaw, Francona realized he is indeed a great reliever. Shaw got the game to the ninth, where Cody Allen came in and closed it out, but not without some drama.

Javier Baez had the chance to be the hero, coming up to bat with runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth with his team down 1-0. But he ran into the buzzsaw that is Cody Allen, who struck him out and gave the Indians a 2-1 lead in the series.

Miller only threw 17 pitches while Allen threw 18, so expect to see both Saturday if needed.

Coco the Hero

National League baseball can be frustrating for fans of American League teams.

But Francona is a great manager who is able to adjust and make the right moves with the different rules. His biggest move was pinch-hitting Coco Crisp for Andrew Miller, which was a tad controversial at the time. It took the team’s best pitcher out of the game, but it did give the team a RBI opportunity. And as we all know, Crisp followed through, driving in the only run of the game.

It is easy to question coaching decisions during the game, but Francona now has a 10-1 record in the World Series. As fans, all we can do is hope he makes the right decisions to make sure this team wins four games before the Cubs do. And right now, he has yet to do anything to lose the faith of the fans.

The Santana Experiment Works Out

The news that Carlos Santana was starting in left field shocked some fans, but it turned out to be a non-story in Game 3.

Images of Santana dropping a fly ball in the bottom of the ninth inning may have flashed through the minds of many in Cleveland, but the plan was to take him out early, which is exactly what happened.

He did a solid job when he was in, drawing two walks, which is what he was in there to do. He may not make it to the end of either Game 4 or 5, but his presence in the first half of those games can help make a difference on offense.

More from Wahoo's on First

This article originally appeared on