Indians look to bullpen for edge in finale

Cleveland: After squandering a second successive chance to clinch the World Series, Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona tried to claim an edge for his team going into Wednesday's deciding Game Seven.

Francona looked to the bullpens, which have been crucial for both clubs in the Fall Classic, now knotted 3-3 after Cleveland won three of the first four games.

With Chicago again facing elimination on Tuesday, they brought in end-game weapon Aroldis Chapman in the seventh inning to shut down the Indians and the fireballing closer registered four outs after throwing a season high 2 2/3 innings on Sunday.

Cleveland did not use Andrew Miller or Cody Allen, their one-two bullpen punch, in Tuesday's 9-3 loss.

"You always want to win the game, but the next best thing, and we've talked about this before we even started, was try to make them use pitching, even in a loss," said Francona.

"So we hung around enough, at least Chapman had to pitch. You never know, maybe that helps us," he said, seemingly with the hope that the Cuban lefthander might be a little worn out.

Cleveland first baseman Mike Napoli told reporters that the Indians needed to do what they had done "all year" and get runs early to allow the pitching staff to settle.

"It's all hands on deck tomorrow," said Napoli, referring to Game Seven starter Corey Kluber and the relievers. "We are confident and we are at home playing in front of our fans."

Francona felt the disappointment of the title-starved Indians fans who went home still waiting for an end to the 68-year World Series drought.

"Yeah, tonight was a tough night," he said. "What it comes down to is -- I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a really important game tomorrow. And we'll be really excited to play.

"You learn from your mistakes and then move on quickly, and we'll do that."