Kipnis then struck out looking on a borderline pitch and was clearly not happy with the call as he stared at the plate and then at home plate umpire Tony Randazzo. With two outs, Davis was taking comical leads off second base and Lester was clearly flustered. Lindor was able to take advantage with a flyball to center that dropped in front of Dexter Fowler. Davis, who had turned on the jets, easily scored from second to cut the Cubs’ lead to 3-2.

Lindor tried to take advantage of Lester’s inattention as well, but Ross was able to throw him out at second once again to end the inning.

David Waldstein: Lest Lester forget (see what I did there?), the Indians are a scrappy team capable of clawing their way back into this. As shown by the clutch run-scoring, two-out single by Lindor. He came into the game batting .370 in the postseason with five runs scored, five runs batted in and a .408 on-base percentage. Javier Baez’s sweep tag is one of my favorite things in baseball. He’s like a matador, except a matador does not have to catch a ball first. Then again, Baez doesn’t have to worry about getting gored by a bull.

Bottom of 6th: Shaw Strikes Out the Side

Bryan Shaw came in to start the bottom of the sixth, thus becoming Cleveland’s third pitcher of the game. He got Jason Heyward with a called strike three for the first out of the inning, which was the struggling hitter’s third strikeout of the game. Javier Baez, who has looked largely lost at the plate in this series, followed Heyward by flailing at a pitch in the dirt for strike three. Joe Maddon then made a somewhat surprising move by pulling Ross for a pinch-hitter, signaling that Jon Lester’s day is likely done. The batting swap did not matter, as Shaw struck out the side, retiring Miguel Montero on three pitches.

David Waldstein: Andrew Miller and Cody Allen are important, but don’t forget Bryan Shaw. That guy has been nails in some pretty big moments in the postseason. Lester is out and so is Ross. If the Cubs don’t win, that throw to second base nailing Lindor trying to steal is Ross’s last play in Major League Baseball.

Top of 7th: Lester Out, Chapman In

Jon Lester was only at 90 pitches through six innings of work, but Joe Maddon decided it was time for a change and brought in Carl Edwards Jr. to start the top of the seventh. The 25-year-old right-hander left a fastball way up in the zone and Mike Napoli crushed it to left for a single. After Napoli’s hit, Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio came out for a chat, likely to stall for more warm-up time for Aroldis Chapman. Edwards threw an outside pitch that got by Willson Contreras and Napoli advanced to second. Edwards retired Carlos Santana on a fly ball to left and then Maddon came out to replace him with Aroldis Chapman.