Cubs star Kyle Schwarber won’t be in the starting lineup for the three World Series games in Chicago this weekend after he was denied medical clearance Thursday to play the outfield following his return from knee surgery.
Schwarber tore a pair of knee ligaments April 7 and returned in Tuesday’s Series opener. He was 3 for 7 with a double, two RBIs, and two walks as the Cubs’ designated hitter in the first two games at Cleveland, but with the shift to Wrigley Field, there will be no DH.
Theo Epstein, Chicago’s president of baseball operations, said team doctors said it was too soon after the injury for Schwarber’s knee to be fully tested, especially with quick moves required to play the outfield. ‘‘There was too much risk,’’ Epstein said.
Schwarber, as a result, will be relegated to pinch hitting for the next three games. The move takes one of Chicago’s best bats out of the lineup after a surprising return by the slugger.
‘‘We’re going to respect the doctors,’’ Epstein said. ‘‘They’re the professionals here and [we’ll] move forward. Kyle understands that. He wants to play, he’s the ultimate gamer, but he understands that the doctor’s judgment has to rule the day in this case.’’
Schwarber was ruled out for the year after he tore two knee ligaments in an outfield collision with Dexter Fowler in Chicago’s third game of the season. But he had an encouraging checkup with Dr. Daniel Cooper on Oct. 17 in Dallas, clearing the way for a short stay in the Arizona Fall League before serving as the DH in Cleveland.
Facing major league pitching for the first time in six months, Schwarber doubled and walked in Game 1.
He added a pair of RBI singles Wednesday night in a 5-1 victory, leading to lengthy phone conversations with Cooper and Dr. Stephen Gryzlo, one of the Cubs’ physicians, that ultimately led to the safe route for the 23-year-old catcher/outfielder.
The Middletown, Ohio, native hit .246 with 16 homers and 43 RBIs in 69 games last year, but rose to prominence in the postseason. He hit .333 with a franchise-record five homers in nine playoff games, including a drive that reached the top of a Wrigley Field videoboard.
Schwarber stood in left for a short while during batting practice Thursday, but he never took any fly balls. He had already talked to the doctors at that point.
‘‘Deep down in my heart I really wanted to [play], but there’s obviously the doubts of the injury,’’ he said. ‘‘You know, it was a huge injury, and that’s the facts. Not many people get this opportunity that I’m in right now, so I’m embracing this opportunity that I’ve got and I’m going to cheer my teammates on, and when my time comes, I’m going to be ready for that opportunity.’’
Frenzied confinesThe Fall Classic returns to one of baseball’s iconic ballparks Friday when the Cubs and Indians face off in Game 3 after splitting the first two nights in chilly Cleveland.
It’s the first World Series game at Wrigley since Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg helped the Detroit Tigers to a 9-3 victory in Game 7 on Oct. 10, 1945.
The expectation is, well, even more bedlam than usual. The Cubs, seeking their first championship in 108 years, played in front of packed, frenzied crowds for much of the season, and even the Indians are looking forward to the scene.
‘‘[Friday’s] going to be unbelievable,’’ said Cleveland slugger Mike Napoli. ‘‘I watched when they clinched to go to the World Series and how crazy it was and seeing the fans in the streets where they had to have police escorts. You could just see the crowd just part ways.
‘‘So it’s going to be fun. It’s something that I wanted to be a part of, and thought that it would be an unbelievable World Series,’’ he said.
And, with the series tied one game apiece, it’s only getting started.
Corey Kluber pitched the Indians to a 6-0 win Tuesday night in Game 1, striking out nine in a dazzling performance. After Josh Tomlin makes his third playoff start in the Wrigley opener, Kluber looms over Game 4 on Saturday night on short rest.
The Cubs returned to Chicago on a high after working over Cleveland’s pitching staff in a 5-1 victory Wednesday night. Trevor Bauer lasted just 3 2/3 innings, beginning a parade to the mound that included six relievers and a total of 196 pitches.
‘‘That was the plan, to get at least one over there and bring it back home,’’ second baseman Javier Baez said. ‘‘Everybody is excited to be here in Chicago. Everybody has been waiting for this moment.’’
Santana to play left
Because they’re playing in a National League ballpark where the DH is not allowed, the Indians are prepared to put their usual DH, Carlos Santana, out in left at Wrigley Field, where he’ll have to deal with the wind and the rowdy bleacher crowd, never mind the pressure.
Santana, a seven-year veteran, has played only four innings in left field, all in 2012.
Indians manager Terry Francona expressed some ‘‘anxiety’’ in making the move but feels it gives his team the best chance to win.
Santana, who hit 34 homers during the regular season, took fly balls at Wrigley in preparation for his start and was excited about the opportunity. ‘‘I'll be fine,’’ he said.
Father-son reunion
Josh Tomlin said he was looking forward to starting Game 3 for the Indians because his father, against all odds, will arrive from Texas to be there at Wrigley. Jerry Tomlin was recently paralyzed from the chest down following a medical scare that threatened his life and will attend the game with his wife, Elana, to watch their son realize his boyhood dream of pitching in the World Series.
‘‘It will mean everything,’’ Josh Tomlin said. ‘‘We’ve talked about this, shoot, since I was 3 or 4 years old. I can remember having conversations with him — ‘Bases loaded, full count, bottom of the ninth, so and so is up to bat. What are you going to throw him?’ ’’
‘‘Let’s go fastball,’’ Josh recalled, ‘‘and I’d throw a fastball and on strike three we’d jump up and throw our gloves. It was cool to be able to look back and think, man, I was doing that when I was 4 years old. Now I’m actually going to live it and he’s actually going to see it.
‘‘That’s pretty special to me and something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.’’
In August, Jerry Tomlin was working at a power plant in Whitehouse, Texas, when he fell ill. He was taken to a hospital where doctors initially thought he was suffering from a gall bladder problem. But when his conditioned worsened, and his body went numb, an MRI revealed the 57-year-old Tomlin had an arteriovenous malfunction that affected blood circulation near the spine and required immediate surgery.
The procedure saved Jerry’s life, but left him in a wheelchair facing a long and difficult recovery and the prospect of never walking again. After spending nearly two months in a rehab facility in Dallas, he was released last week — on Josh’s 32nd birthday _ and watched from his living room as the Indians clinched their first AL pennant since 2007.
Honesty the best policy
Charlie Turner, an Ohio University student who ditched class to head to the opening game of the World Series in Cleveland, was given a reprieve from his professor for honestly answering why he was absent from class.
Ohio University professor Damian Nance said Turner checked into his class Tuesday by swiping a card, but wasn’t there when Nance took attendance at the end of the session.
Turner came clean after Nance emailed him, asking for an explanation. Turner told the professor his father had gotten him tickets to the game against the Chicago Cubs and that he left for Cleveland after checking in. He included a picture of himself and his brother at Progressive Field.
Nance responded by calling it ‘‘an impeccable excuse,’’ and added ‘‘no repercussions.’’
Nance said he let Turner off the hook, not because he’s a big Indians fan, but because the student ‘‘fessed up.’’
