Manager Terry Francona faced a tough choice: The dominant reliever Andrew Miller, who had just struck out the side, was up. Let him bat or pinch hit for him with two men on? He opted for the pinch hitter, Coco Crisp. The move paid off, as Crisp lined a single to right, scoring Martinez.

The game had started with two strong pitching efforts. Though he scattered six hits in four and a third innings, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks struck out six and kept the Indians off the board. Indians starter Josh Tomlin was even better, giving up just two hits in his four and two-thirds innings.

Some Cubs fans paid thousands on the black market for tickets to the historic game, and others paid hundreds just to watch the game in nearby bars. They will be looking for a better result when the series continues at Wrigley on Saturday night.

David Waldstein: A terrific ball game. The Indians did what they do best: They got the lead and then let their bullpen shut down the opposition with icy precision. That was the fourth shutout loss for the Cubs in the postseason, including two in the World Series.

Tomlin was good, Miller was great, Shaw was fantastic and Allen was superb. The Indians used a lot of curveballs against the Cubs’ batters, but the last pitch, with the tying run 90 feet away and the winning run on second base, was high heat from Allen, and Baez swung and missed.