Cleveland Indians Lose Game 6 of 2016 World Series to Chicago Cubs

CLEVELAND, OH - All it takes to end a ballgame is one swing. Cleveland Indians fans were reminded of that grim fact on Tuesday night when Addison Russell clobbered a grand slam and gave the Chicago Cubs a lead they wouldn't relinquish. The boys from Wrigley Field ended the night with a 9-3 victory and forced a decisive Game 7.

It certainly wasn't the night Cleveland fans were hoping for, many of whom had been posting on social media or carrying signs that read, "Tribe in 6." Instead, the Cubs recorded 13 hits in an offensive outburst that hadn't been seen by either team to this point in the series.

The problems for Cleveland began almost from the first pitch. Starter Josh Tomlin looked nothing like the man who took the mound in Game 3 and helped secure a bounce back victory for the Indians. This Tomlin surrendered six hits and six earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work.

The next man on the mound didn't fare much better. Dan Otero came in and, on his second pitch of the night, surrendered the aforementioned grand slam to Russell, letting the Cubs tally their seventh run of the evening. Technically Otero only gave up one earned run because Tomlin had left the bases loaded.

Danny Salazar came in next and settled things down, giving up only one hit across two innings of work. He struck out four batters. Jeff Manship and Zach McAllister closed out the evening.

Maybe the strangest move of the nights was Cubs' manager Joe Maddon deciding to roll out superstar closer Arlodis Chapman for 1.1 innings of work despite the massive seven run lead Chicago had accumulated. At one point the clamor for Chapman to be replaced was so overwhelming that the Cubs official Twitter account actually addressed the fans' howling:

Eventually Maddon relented and turned the ball over to other relievers (who almost immediately gave up another run), but some fans are worried about Chapman's fatigue heading into a penultimate Game 7.

Meanwhile, for Russell it was a historic evening. His six RBIs ties a World Series record. Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist all collected multiple hits over the course of the game. The Cubs also got 5.2 solid innings from starter Jake Arrieta, who gave up a comparably paltry two runs over his time on the mound.

Game 7 will be played Nov. 2 at 8:08 p.m. at Progressive Field. Corey Kluber will likely take the mound for the Tribe.

You can watch Tomlin's first pitch of the night, before the nightmare of Game 6 unfolded, below: