CLEVELAND — What Jake Arrieta did Wednesday night in terrible weather during Game 2 of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians made little sense. He threw a first-pitch strike to only half the batters he faced. He fired 98 pitches in all, but only 55 were strikes.
Yet there he was at the start of the sixth inning, carrying the longest no-hit bid in a World Series game since the Mets’ Jerry Koosman in 1969. By the time Arrieta left the mound in the sixth, he had allowed only one run and two hits. In a slow-paced and sloppy game that nonetheless finished before the predicted heavy rain arrived, Arrieta guided the Chicago Cubs past the Indians at Progressive Field in a 5-1 slog of a win that lasted 4 hours 4 minutes.