http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/sports/baseball/chicago-cubs-san-francisco-giants-nlds.html 2016-10-12 06:55:47 Cubs Oust Giants to Reach N.L.C.S., for Once on Good Side of a Big Rally Just as the goblins of past heartbreak were rising up, Chicago scored four times in the ninth to clinch its division series and avoid a win-or-go-home game at Wrigley Field. === SAN FRANCISCO — Just as the goblins of past heartbreak were rising up — tales of goats, black cats and a fan named Bartman were being discussed again — the They rose up, seemingly from under the mat, scoring four times in the ninth inning to beat the The Cubs’ unlikely victory was even more improbable because it came against the Giants, who were within three outs of winning their 11th consecutive elimination game. But this year, with this bullpen, the final three outs had always been the hardest for the Giants, who could not finish a brilliant pitching performance from the left-hander Matt Moore, who held the Cubs to two hits through eight innings, walking two and striking out 10. For good measure, he drove in a go-ahead run with a bases-loaded single. But Moore, who returned last year from Tommy John surgery, had thrown 120 pitches, so Manager Bruce Bochy turned the ninth inning over to his bullpen, but even a three-run lead was not cushion enough for a unit that blew its 32nd save. One by one, a parade of relievers came to the mound, none powerful enough to stop the Cubs. Derek Law began by allowing a single to Kris Bryant. The left-hander Javier Lopez was summoned and walked Anthony Rizzo. Sergio Romo, the lithe closer who had given up a game-tying home run to Bryant on Monday, surrendered a double down the right-field line to Ben Zobrist, and suddenly the tying run was at second and none were out. When Cubs Manager Joe Maddon sent the left-handed-hitting Chris Coghlan to hit for Addison Russell, Bochy turned to the left-hander Will Smith. Maddon answered with Willson Contreras, the ebullient rookie who stroked a single up the middle that tied the score. Contreras slapped his hands and pounded his chest as Zobrist came home. The Giants had an opportunity to staunch the damage there when Jason Heyward bunted the ball back to Smith, setting up a double play. But shortstop Brandon Crawford made his second throwing error of the game, and the ball went into the first-base dugout, sending Heyward to second. Hunter Strickland replaced Smith, and Baez greeted him with another single up the middle. Suddenly, stunningly, the Cubs had the lead, 6-5. The Cubs’ closer, Aroldis Chapman, who was victimized on Monday night when he blew an eighth-inning lead, assured there was no drama on Tuesday. He struck out all three Giants he faced in the ninth to end the game. When he blew a fastball past Brandon Belt for the final out, the Cubs poured from the dugout to celebrate a cathartic victory. For moment, the win set back the specter of the Cubs’ past playoff ghosts — particularly in 1984, when they ventured west to play the San Diego Padres with a 2-0 lead but lost three in a row, and in 2003, when they were one win away from advancing to the World Series but lost three in a row, including the last two at home, to the Florida Marlins. Both starting pitchers, Moore and the Cubs’ John Lackey, arrived Tuesday having established almost immediately in their careers that they could rise to the occasion on a playoff stage — and they did so with Maddon on their bench. Moore’s second start in the big leagues was in the opener of the 2011 American League Championship Series when he rewarded Maddon, his manager at Tampa Bay, with a two-hit shutout over seven innings at Texas. Lackey became the rare rookie to start and win a World Series Game 7, helping the Anaheim Angels beat the Giants in 2002. Lackey, an irascible Texan whose teammates steer clear of him on days he pitches, boarded the team bus on Tuesday afternoon with a black cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes. “Nothing’s contrived or fabricated with him,” said Maddon, who was the bench coach with the Angels when Lackey came up. “That’s who he is.” Lackey muttered a few cross words to himself when the Giants scored twice in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. After Crawford struck out, Conor Gillaspie and Joe Panik singled. But Lackey walked Gregor Blanco to load the bases. That brought up Moore, who did not have a hit in the big leagues until this season. After looking at the first two pitches for strikes, Moore lashed a single to right field, putting the Giants ahead and equaling his career R.B.I. total. It was the latest big hit by a pitcher in this series, though the first by one of the Giants. The Cubs’ pitchers had hit two home runs and driven in six runs in this series. Another run came across when Denard Span grounded to Rizzo at first base. Rizzo threw to second for a force out, but Russell’s throw was just behind Lackey, who couldn’t keep his foot on the bag. Lackey retired Belt on a fly ball to avoid further damage, but it was his last pitch of the night. The Cubs closed to within 3-2 in the fifth, when Crawford’s three-base throwing error on Baez’s grounder set up David Ross, who had earlier hit a solo homer. He lined an 0-2 pitch from Moore deep enough to right field to score Baez. Crawford quickly atoned for his mistake. After Hunter Pence singled with one out in the bottom of the fifth against the right-hander Justin Grimm, Crawford crushed the first pitch he saw from Grimm off the top of the 25-foot-high brick wall in right-center field, good for a double. Pence scored when Gillaspie lined a single to center off the left-hander Travis Wood, and Crawford came home when Panik lifted a 3-2 pitch to left field, bumping the Giants’ advantage to 5-2. It seemed to be all the Giants needed, but with their bullpen, it was not enough.