Chicago Cubs 6 – 5 San Francisco Giants
The Achilles Heel of the Giants all season long was the bullpen and when they needed it to perform to keep their season alive, it failed miserably.
San Francisco held a three-run lead heading into the top of the ninth but even that wasn’t enough. Manager Bruce Bochy used five relief pitchers in the ninth, three of whom failed to record an out. And when the dust settled, a three run lead turned into a one run deficit.
The Bullpen spoiled a tremendous start for Matt Moore, who went 8 innings, allowing just two runs off two hits.
Cubs starter John Lackey was less than impressive, allowing three runs through 4.0 innings of work. Reliever Justin Grimm followed that up by allowing two runs in just 1/3 of an inning, but the rest of the bullpen picked them up, going 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball, including Aroldis Chapman striking out the side for the save in the ninth.
The win advances the Cubs to the NLCS where they await the winner of the Dodgers/Nationals series.
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