The biggest 9th inning comeback in a clinch game in postseason history.
That’s what I heard, at least, at the end of tonight’s broadcast.
If that stat is correct, could you possibly think of a more appropriate way to blow up the magical stranglehold the Giants have had on postseason fortune for so long? Not that I’m trying to dump on the Giants, of course, but if a team was going to do it, maybe it was going to take something like that. [adinserter block=”1″]
The Cubs entered the 9th inning having struggled all night to put anything of consequence together offensively, and they were down three runs. It was such a frustrating eight innings, and I’d nearly bitten my tongue in half. But then Kris Bryant singled to lead things off. And Anthony Rizzo worked a walk. Ben Zobrist doubled to cut the deficit to two. Willson Contreras singled to tie the game. Javy Baez singled to give the Cubs the lead.
I lost any semblance of self control, shouting “YEAH BABY” at midnight with sleeping children all over the place. I couldn’t help it. You understand.
The Cubs are going back to the NLCS.
Matt Moore legitimately pitched very, very well, mixing speeds and pitches, hitting his spots. The Cubs did him favors here and there (as did his defense), but by and large, he earned his performance. I liked this match-up a lot for the Cubs. He just performed incredibly well for eight innings. Thankfully for the Cubs, he didn’t pitch one more.
John Lackey was not at his best, but his night could have been much better if not for a really badly-located 0-2 fastball to Matt Moore with the bases loaded in the 4th inning. A hit there wound up leading to a Giants lead they held until the 9th. Again, thankfully for the Cubs, the bullpen pitched pretty well from there on out, and it didn’t matter.
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Conor Gillaspie had another four hits on the night, and I think we can all just count our lucky stars that he did not come up that inning. Ditto Joe Panik. Couple their performances with that of Moore, and I can understand why folks were fretting most of the night.
In the end, though, whatever magic the Cubs have this year, it was just stronger.