Indians pitching continues to dominate great lineups

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In the first truly competitive game of the World Series, the Indians took Game 3 by a close 1-0 margin. This continues a trend that’s been ongoing throughout October, as Cleveland’s pitching staff once again shut down one of the best offenses in baseball. It started in their sweep of Boston, who was arguably the best lineup in the league all year. The Indians pitching staff shut them down in three straight games and made them look like a Triple-A lineup. Then, they took on the Blue Jays and the scariest middle-of-the-order in baseball, holding them to two or fewer runs in four of five games. Now, they are doing it again to the Cubs.

It started in Game 1, when Corey Kluber put together an incredible outing, and the bullpen spelled him to finish off the shutout. In Game 2, the Cubs put six runs on the board, and it looked like their deep and young lineup was starting to put it together. On Friday, however, Josh Tomlin continued to marvel this October and tossed 4⅔ scoreless innings. Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen did what the Cleveland bullpen has done all postseason, namely completely dominate whatever hitter is placed in front of them.

The series continues on Saturday night at Wrigley Field, as the Indians will try to keep dominating superlative lineups and take a commanding 3-1 lead over Chicago. They’ll be relying on Kluber again, this time on three days rest. While that’s not ideal, he’s easily their best starting pitcher. Even better, Miller only threw 17 pitches on Friday and should be able to go multiple innings if needed tonight. John Lackey will be on the hill for the Cubs as they try to even the series.

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