Andrew Kittredge made sure to take a moment on the mound to soak in the atmosphere before he threw his first pitch.
The 40,895 raucous fans packed into Wrigley Field on Thursday evening were on their feet radiating anxious tension as the Chicago Cubs’ last two outs seemed elusive to finish off the San Diego Padres in Game 3 of the wild-card series. Reliever Brad Keller hit two Padres with pitches, giving them two runners on and the go-ahead run at the plate. The Cubs, on the verge of advancing, again went to Kittredge, acquired at the trade deadline from the Baltimore Orioles, for a third consecutive day.
“Then I kind of overthrew my pitch into the dirt,” a champagne- and beer-soaked Kittredge said, grinning in a rowdy clubhouse afterward.
The veteran reliever, called on in the biggest moment of a win-or-go-home Game 3, retired the Padres’ Freddy Fermin and Jake Cronenworth to strand the runners on second and third, saving the Cubs’ 3-1 win and advancing them in the postseason for the first time since 2017.
“From the get-go, after the first sinker I threw, the sinker felt good and never did I imagine coming into that game and I wouldn’t throw a slider, but I’m just happy that we got got it done,” Kittredge told the Tribune. “It was an awesome feeling, such a fun team, such a fun environment. This is what it’s all about.”
The Cubs used a quintessential formula Thursday that had turned them into one of the best teams in the NL and put them in this position: stellar pitching, elite defense and a methodical offensive approach with timely hits to beat the Padres to advance to the NL Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, their division rivals and owners of baseball’s best record.
The Cubs entered Thursday 6-13 at Wrigley Field in elimination games, including 0-3 in winner-takes-all games. Those previous win-or-go-home losses occurred in the 1945 World Series, 2003 NL Championship Series and 2018 wild-card game. They were 4-4 overall in such games, with their last win coming in the 2017 NLDS at the Washington Nationals.
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s RBI single and Dansby Swanson’s bases-loaded walk in the second put the Cubs in control early. Michael Busch’s hit his first career postseason home run to lead off the seventh. Crow-Armstrong produced his first three-hit game since Aug. 15 and only his third since the All-Star break.
“I think in terms of this game, when situations present themselves, there are certain ways to approach them, and I just knew going up there that I had everybody in that dugout behind me, and that was the best feeling about any of that,” Crow-Armstrong said.
Jackson Merrill’s solo blast off Keller leading off the ninth accounted for the Padres’ only run.
Game 1 of the NLDS is Saturday in Milwaukee.
“That’s what made this more meaningful, honestly, is just being here: clinching a playoff series at home in front of your fans with the three games that were just played, you’ve created memories, you’ve created baseball fans,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It was a special environment today. We didn’t give the fans a lot to cheer about (Wednesday), unfortunately, but from the third pitch of the game when (Jameson Taillon) struck out (Fernando) Tatís, it was on.
“So to do it here is certainly meaningful, to do it on your home field in front of the fans, taking that picture on the mound with the fans all still in the stands, that means something.”
The Cubs would have experienced difficult what-if reflections of missed opportunities had the Padres pulled off a comeback win.
Column: Chicago Cubs continue their postseason push with a wild-card series win at Wrigley Field
They put the leadoff batter on base in four of the first five innings and had at least one player reach in each of the first six innings. The Cubs’ best chance to blow the game open came in the second after loading the bases with nobody out against Padres starter Yu Darvish. Kyle Tucker (single) and Seiya Suzuki (double) immediately put pressure on Darvish to begin the frame. The former Cub then hit Carson Kelly with a pitch and surrendered an RBI single to Crow-Armstrong, his first of the series, for a 1-0 Cubs lead.
Padres manager Mike Shildt had a quick hook for Darvish, pulling him before he could record an out in the second. Right-handed reliever Jeremiah Estrada, claimed off waivers after the Cubs designated him for assignment before the 2024 season, entered into the jam only to walk in a run on a full count to Swanson.
The Cubs, though, couldn’t tack on any more. Matt Shaw struck out, one of three in the game, and Busch hit into an inning-ending double play.
Fortunately, Taillon shined in his second career postseason start and first since 2022 with the New York Yankees. He cruised through four shutout innings, holding the Padres to two hits and striking out four without walking a batter. Taillon wanted this opportunity and delivered.
Counsell faced his first big decision of Game 3 heading into the fifth: Let Taillon, who had been rolling, stay in to face pocket of three consecutive left-handed hitters or go to bullpen. Counsell opted for the latter and turned to Caleb Thielbar.
The 38-year-old reliever struck out two of the lefties, Ryan O’Hearn and Cronenworth, sandwiched around Gavin Sheets’ single. Counsell turned to Daniel Palencia to end the fifth, and the hard-throwing righty recovered from Fermin’s double to put runners at second and third by forcing Tatís to fly out to keep the Padres off the board.
“I thought the game was about what Taillon gave us at the start, I thought it was absolutely crucial,” Counsell said. “We knew we were going to have a couple guys that we were going to have to work really hard, but with him giving us four innings and getting 12 outs, really put it together.”
One of the best defense teams in the regular season produced a fantastic all-around performance in the biggest game of the season. Crow-Armstrong’s elite reaction time allowed him to make a sliding grab on Manny Machado’s 111.2-mph liner that had a 10% catch probability for the final out of the first. Swanson had a trio of plays to rob the Padres of hits while second baseman Nico Hoerner’s leaping catch to snag a liner with a .560 expected average that potentially prevented the runner at second from scoring, which would have made it a one-run game.
“These moments never get old,” Swanson said. “Being able to compete on a stage like this is literally like the most fun you’ll ever have in your life … to be able to go take the field with them and come together for something greater than ourselves, for this city, oh, man, it literally sends chills down my spine.”
The Cubs have showed a knack for bouncing back after tough games and displaying resiliency en route to their 92-win season. Their 46-24 record after a loss this year was the best in Major League Baseball, including a 23-6 mark at Wrigley.
“We’ve had pretty much the same group all year long, and we’re having each other’s backs, whether we have good days or bad days,” Tucker said. “We’ve just got to try and grind through them and try and come out with a win regardless.”
Cubs fans were locked in from the first pitch, rising to their feet every time a hitter stepped to the plate in a big spot or Taillon and Cubs relievers had two strikes during a two-out at-bat. The Cubs embraced the atmosphere where clearly the Friendly Confines had been waiting for the first postseason home game with fans in the stands since 2018.
“The stadium stayed the same, the energy didn’t shift, they kept it at the same level the whole game, which was just electric,” Crow-Armstrong said. “We wanted to keep bringing it back here. That would be the most ideal, to be able to do it in front of these people every single time.”
NL Division Series
Cubs vs. Brewers
Best-of-five | All games on TBS
- Game 1: 1:08 p.m. Saturday at Brewers
- Game 2: 8:08 p.m. Monday at Brewers
- Game 3: Wednesday at Wrigley Field
- Game 4: Thursday at Wrigley Field
- Game 5: Oct. 11 at Brewers
Games 4-5 if necessaryTimes for Games 3-5 to be determined