WRIGLEYVILLE — After six innings without a run on either side, Indians outfielder Coco Crisp delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh, giving Cleveland the lead they never relinquished in Game 3 of the World Series, the first game on the Cubs' home turf at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs closed out the ninth inning with two runners on base, unable to bring them home.
In the eighth inning, Linh Quah helped her 10-year-old son Jaden turn their sweatshirts inside out for luck.
"It's our rally," said her husband Tony Panopio. But when the Cubs fell 1-0, he admitted he was "worried."
The family drove from Buffalo Grove to catch the game. While Panopio has been a fan since the '80s, he's spent the last year introducing the game to his son.
"They still have a couple more games," Quah said of the Cubs' chances of winning the Series.
It had been a nail-biting game as both teams entered the seventh inning with no score and one win on each side in the series. Before Cleveland took the lead, fans were cautiously optimistic in Wrigleyville.
Travis Rehn, 27, who was watching from Moe's Cantina, 3518 N. Clark St., said he believes this is going to be the year, no matter the naysayers.
"The team is young, and they don't care about curses," Rehn said, though someone did bring a goat from Michigan to Wrigley Field just to put any curse concerns to rest.
Rehn and a couple friends paid $20 each to get into Moe's Friday, where a midsize crowd had plenty of wiggle room, and several tables stayed empty through the fifth inning.
Rehn and his friend Ashley Fugate expected long lines and bar covers that cost hundreds of dollars. They were pleasantly surprised to find a "really nice place" at a comparative bargain.
"It's a really great team, and they're really hot right now," said Fugate, who came from Mount Prospect for one World Series night in Wrigleyville. "They're just taking their time."
"I'm still feeling positive," Rehn added.
Many fans began gathering in Wrigleyville well before dawn.
Tickets to Game 3 have been nearly impossible to get, selling for an average $7,161 apiece.
Even grabbing a barstool near the Friendly Confines has been an ordeal for die-hard Cubs fans, who started lining up 15 hours before the first pitch and shelled out as much as $1,000 for a table at the bars near the field.
Here's Friday's starting lineup:
Here is tonight's #Cubs starting lineup!#WorldSeries Game 3 preview: https://t.co/xhWsWkaKR3 #FlyTheW pic.twitter.com/uBOTrp1xs1
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 28, 2016
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