DYK: Kluber's postseason dominance rivals Mathewson's

Plus more on Miller's strikeout record and a near cycle from Kipnis

October 30th, 2016

The Indians are a win away from their first World Series championship since 1948. After their 7-2 win over the Cubs in Game 4 on Saturday night at Wrigley Field, the Tribe has to beat Chicago in only one of the final three games to take the title back to Cleveland and extend Chicago's World Series title drought to 109 years.
Before the Indians go for the clinch on the Cubs' home turf, here are the key facts and figures from their win in Game 4.
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One game away
• The Indians have a commanding 3-1 lead in the World Series. Since the 2-3-2 format was established for the World Series in 1925 (excluding a pair of 3-4 exceptions during World War II), teams ahead 3-1 have gone 29-5.
• History heavily on Indians' side with 3-1 Series lead
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• The Cubs, meanwhile, are facing an uphill battle. The last 10 teams with a 3-1 World Series lead have gone on to win the Series, as have the last eight teams with a 3-1 lead and Games 6 and 7 at home. The last team to come back to win the World Series after trailing 3-1 was the 1985 Royals, who came back to beat the Cardinals. The last team to come back to win the Series with Games 6 and 7 on the road was the 1979 Pirates, who shocked the Orioles.
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• The Cubs can take solace in the following: They won three or more consecutive games 16 times during the regular season, and also did it in the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers. The Indians lost three in a row seven times during the regular season.
Kluber dominant again
• Indians starter was brilliant again, throwing six innings and allowing one run on three days' rest. Game 4 was his fourth start this postseason of at least six innings with one run or less. The last Indians pitcher to do that in a single postseason was Orel Hershiser in 1995, and the last pitcher in baseball to do so was in 2014.

• Kluber also set an Indians World Series record with his 14th strikeout of the Fall Classic in the fifth inning Saturday night, passing Hershiser's mark of 13 set in '95.
• Kluber has a 0.89 ERA through his first five career postseason starts, a mark that trails only Christy Mathewson's 0.38, set in 1905 and '11 with the Giants. Kluber's 0.89 ERA is also the second-best all-time in a single postseason for a pitcher making at least five starts, behind only Burt Hooton's 0.82 mark set in 1981 with the Dodgers.
Miller time
set the record in Game 4 for most strikeouts by a reliever in a single postseason by striking out two batters, bringing his 2016 postseason total to 29, besting 's 28, set in 2002 with the Angels.

• Miller gave up a home run to in the eighth inning. That ended his streak of 24 1/3 scoreless innings to begin his playoff career, the third-longest career-opening streak of all time.
• Miller and Kluber have combined to throw 47 1/3 innings this postseason. They've allowed four runs between them, good for an 0.76 ERA.
Cleveland's offense erupts
• When the Indians erased a 1-0 deficit with two runs in the top of the second inning, it broke a streak of 14 straight postseason games without a lead change. The last one came in Game 5 of the National League Division Series, when the Dodgers overcame a 1-0 hole against the Nationals.
went 3-for-5 with a single, double and a three-run homer. He is the first player since the Yankees' Hideki Matsui in 2009 to finish a triple shy of the cycle in a World Series game.

• With his three-run shot off Cubs reliever in the seventh inning, Kipnis became the first Illinois-born player (Northbrook) to homer in a World Series game at Wrigley Field. He also became the first player to hit a three-run homer in a World Series game at Wrigley since Babe Ruth in Game 3 of the 1932 Fall Classic. Ruth took Cubs pitcher Charlie Root deep in the first inning with two men on base -- and then homered again in the fifth, his famous "Called Shot."
• With a third-inning single, the Indians' , at 22 years old, became the youngest player to record six or more hits in a single World Series since 21-year-old Edgar Renteria did so for the Marlins in 1997 -- against Cleveland.
Fowler power

• Fowler's home run off Miller was the first Cubs round-tripper in the World Series since Phil Cavarretta went deep in Game 1 of the 1945 Fall Classic -- but that was at Detroit's Briggs Stadium. The last Cub to send one over Wrigley's brick wall in a World Series was Chuck Klein, who did so in Game 5 of the '35 Series, also against the Tigers.