If you are up until 2:45 am on the East Coast to watch 13 innings of baseball, it better be good.
Game 3 of the National League Division Series between the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants was a classic.
Joe Panik doubled off the right-center wall in the 13th inning to drive in Brandon Crawford, and the Giants outlasted the Chicago Cubs 6-5 in Game 3 to extend their NL Division Series.
“There’s a sense of calmness,” Panik said. “It’s like we’ve been there before.”
Chicago leads the best-of-five playoff 2-1 and will send John Lackey to the mound Tuesday night opposite lefty Matt Moore.
The Cubs had the bubbly on ice. But it is not easy sending the Giants home in October.
An early three-run shot by pitcher Jake Arrieta against Giants ace Madison Bumgarner gave the Cubs the edge. The first time the lumberjack gave up a home run to a pitcher. The Giants overcame Kris Bryant’s two-run homer off closer Sergio Romo that tied it at five all in the ninth.
“We played it hard, we played it right — and they beat us,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
Lackey will try to pitch the Cubs into their second straight NLCS, while Moore looks to build on his success down the stretch after the Giants acquired him at the Aug. 1 trade deadline from Tampa Bay.
