Cubs advance
Chicago rallies from three-run deficit and reaches NLCS for the second year in a row.
Chicago rallies for four runs in the ninth to knock out Giants.
SAN FRANCISCO — Kris Bryant tossed his glove high in the air, Jake Arrieta jumped over the dugout railing and the rest of the Chicago Cubs rushed to join the celebration.
World Series favorites since opening day, the Cubs took another step in their championship chase Tuesday night by rallying for four runs in the ninth inning of Game 4 to beat San Francisco, 6-5, and win their National League division series.
“You could see it coming. You could see little signs. We’ve done it before and the guys, we don’t quit,” Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler said. “It’s a little more special doing it here. They for sure were thinking that they won it. But we play 27 outs and we don’t give up until we win.”
Javier Baez’s tiebreaking single capped the comeback against a beleaguered bullpen that sabotaged the Giants one last time.
The team with the best record in the majors this year will open the NL Championship Series at Wrigley Field on Saturday against the Dodgers or Washington Nationals.
“I’ve seen it so many times from this group. It’s a big part of our philosophy,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said.
Seeking their first World Series title since 1908, the Cubs will get a few days of rest before opening the NLCS. Chicago was swept by the New York Mets in a four-game NLCS last year.
Held to two hits over eight innings by Matt Moore, who struck out 10, the Cubs trailed 5-2 heading to the ninth.
Now, they’re headed back to their second consecutive NLCS after ending San Francisco’s 10-game winning streak when facing postseason elimination.
Pinch-hitter Willson Contreras tied it with a two-run single. Baez singled in the go-ahead run two batters later, and the Cubs capitalized on Gold Glove shortstop Brandon Crawford’s second costly error and more untimely blunders by the Giants’ once-reliable relief staff.
One day after getting tagged in the eighth inning, Aroldis Chapman closed this one out by striking out the side in order. When he set down Brandon Belt to end it, Chapman’s teammates rushed to the mound to hug him.
The World Series champions in 2010, ’12 and ’14, the Giants’ every-other-year title chance is over in 2016 with the club’s first postseason series defeat in the last 12.
After finishing off the resilient Giants, Maddon should have his rotation all lined up because Jon Lester wasn’t needed to pitch a potential Game 5 in the division series.
Maddon has his confident, power-hitting Cubs on quite an October roll. They already beat AllStar Johnny Cueto and ex-Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija, then waited until Moore’s stellar outing was done to pounce.
Lester doesn’t buy all the superstition surrounding Chicago’s championship drought.
“Nobody really cares in there about a curse or a goat or anything else,” he said. “If we make a mistake, we’re not going to blame it on a curse or anything else like that. We’re going to blame it on ourselves and be accountable for it and move on to the next play or the next moment. We’ve got too many young guys in there that don’t even know what that stuff is, you know what I mean? So, it’s almost better to play naive and just go out and worry about us, worry about the Cubs and not anything else in the past or, like I said, any animals.”