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Cubs glad to advance after hard-fought NLDS
- Updated: October 12, 2016
SAN FRANCISCO — Nothing against the Giants, but the Cubs were getting tired of them.
The last thing they wanted was to see them again at Wrigley Field.
“It seems like we have been playing these guys for the last two weeks, just with travel and how intense these games are and stuff,” Jon Lester said on Tuesday.
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So rather than deal with the stress of a deciding Game 5, the Cubs cobbled together one of the most dramatic ninth-inning rallies in franchise history, wrapping up the National League Division Series with a 6-5 win over the Giants at AT&T Park.
Game Date Matchup TV/Highlights Gm 1 Oct. 7 CHC 1, SF 0 Gm 2 Oct. 8 CHC 5, SF 2 Gm 3 Oct. 10 SF 6, CHC, 5 (13) Gm 4 Oct. 11 CHC 6, SF 5 • Giants vs. Cubs NLDS coverageShop for postseason gear: Cubs | Giants
When the ninth inning began, with the Giants holding a 5-2 lead and Cubs hitters having gone 5-for-56 since the early stages of Game 3, not even the optimistic Joe Maddon was sensing any magic in the night air. Not against a team that had won 10 straight elimination games.
What was Maddon thinking when the Cubs came to bat in the ninth?
“Johnny Cueto at Wrigley Field,” the skipper said, referring to the Giants’ probable starter. “And I was telling the folks in there, if you ever looked at those numbers, they’re not good for us. He’s really tough on us. … He knows what he’s doing out there, and he gives us problems. So I’m happy to not having to face him in a winner-take-all game. That was it. I’m being very honest.”
In typical fashion for a team as deep and balanced as any in the Major Leagues, six players (Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Willson Contreras, Jason Heyward and Javier Baez) contributed to a four-run ninth inning that sent the Cubs to the NL Championship Series (Game 1 Saturday on FOX/FS1, time TBD) for the second year in a row.
Safe to say Maddon’s outlook had changed entirely after Contreras’ pinch-hit single off Will Smith tied the score, Brandon Crawford committed his second throwing error of the game and Baez’s go-ahead single off Hunter Strickland.
“I think as a group, obviously, it’s two years in a row now that we’re getting …
