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Chicago • Jon Lester outpitched Johnny Cueto with eight sparkling innings, Javier Baez homered in the eighth and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 1-0 in a tense Game 1 of their NL Division Series on Friday night.
Lester retired his last 13 batters in a dominant performance, but the game was scoreless when Baez sent a towering drive into a stiff wind. With a raucous crowd of 42,148 and every player anxiously tracking the flight of the ball, left fielder Angel Pagan ran out of room as it landed in the basket that tops the ivy-covered walls at Wrigley Field.
Cubs relievers in the bullpen in foul territory down the left-field line broke into cheers as Baez rounded the bases with the delirious crowd in a frenzy. Baez then came out of the dugout for a curtain call.
Aroldis Chapman allowed Buster Posey's two-out double off the ivy in the ninth before Hunter Pence bounced to second for the final out, wrapping a bow on Chicago's first meaningful game in weeks.
The Cubs clinched the NL Central title on Sept. 15 and led the majors with 103 wins, they have their sights on the franchise's first World Series title crown 1908.
So far, so good for a city draped in "W" flags and hoping for history.
Cueto was outstanding, following Madison Bumgarner's four-hitter for the Giants in the NL wild-card game against the Mets. The right-hander, deftly varying his delivery to keep the Cubs off balance, struck out 10 and allowed three hits in his second straight complete game in the postseason.
Baez's homer stopped San Francisco's postseason scoreless streak at 23 innings dating to the World Series in 2014. The Giants also won it all in 2010 and 2012, leading to talk of even-year magic for manager Bruce Bochy's club, but it was the Cubs with the good fortune on Friday night, a strange turn of events for the usually snake-bitten franchise.
The Giants had at least one hit in each of the first four innings, including leadoff singles in the first three, but Lester held them off each time. The left-hander got some help from his usual catcher, with David Ross throwing out Gorkys Hernandez trying to steal second in the first and picking off wild-card hero Conor Gillaspie at first in the third.
San Francisco had runners on second and third after Ben Zobrist misplayed Pagan's sinking liner to left in the fourth, but Brandon Crawford bounced to shortstop to end the inning. —
Cubs 1, Giants 0
San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Hernandez cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .250
Belt 1b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .000
c-Nunez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Posey c 4 0 2 0 0 0 .500
1-Blanco pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Pence rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250
Pagan lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 .333
Crawford ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Tomlinson 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Gillaspie 3b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .333
Cueto p 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Totals 31 0 6 0 0 6
Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Fowler cf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .000
Bryant 3b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .333
Rizzo 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Zobrist lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .000
Russell ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Heyward rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Baez 2b 3 1 2 1 0 0 .667
Ross c 2 0 0 0 0 1 .000
a-Coghlan ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Contreras c 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Lester p 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000
b-La Stella ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Chapman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Totals 27 1 3 1 0 10
San Francisco 000 000 000 — 0 6 0
Chicago 000 000 01x — 1 3 0
a-struck out for Ross in the 8th. b-flied out for Lester in the 8th. c-grounded out for Belt in the 9th.
1-ran for Posey in the 9th.
LOB—San Francisco 4, Chicago 2. 2B—Posey (1), Pagan (1), Bryant (1). HR—Baez (1), off Cueto. RBIs—Baez (1). CS—Hernandez (1).
Runners left in scoring position—San Francisco 4 (Pence, Crawford 2, Tomlinson) Chicago 1 (Zobrist). RISP—San Francisco 0 for 3 Chicago 0 for 2.
Runners moved up—Crawford, Rizzo.
San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Cueto L, 0-1 8 3 1 1 0 10 1.12
Chicago IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Lester W, 1-0 8 5 0 0 0 5 0.00
Chapman S, 1-1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0.00
Umpires—Home, Todd Tichenor First, Alan Porter Second, Larry Vanover Third, Marvin Hudson Right, Mike Muchlinski Left, John Hirschbeck.
T—2:30. A—42,148 (41,072).
—
Series schedule
(Best-of-5; x-if necessary)
Chicago vs. San Francisco
Game 1 • Chicago 1, San Francisco 0
Saturday • San Francisco (Samardzija 12-11) at Chicago (Hendricks 16-8) 8:08 p.m. (MLB)
Monday • Chicago (Arrieta 18-8) at San Francisco, 9:38 p.m. (FS1)
x-Tuesday • Chicago (Lackey 11-8) at San Francisco, 8:08 or 8:40 p.m. (FS1)
x-Thursday • San Francisco at Chicago, 8:08 or 8:40 p.m. (FS1)