The Cubs’ 3-1 win over the Padres in Game 1 of their Wild Card series was really the way you might have drawn it up.
Good starting pitching. Solid defense. A couple of home runs. And then… a lockdown bullpen that retired the last 12 Padres in a row and 18 of the last 19. Just outstanding work all the way around.
Matthew Boyd got touched up for a run in the second inning on a couple of doubles by Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts. It might have been more if not for this excellent defensive play by Dansby Swanson [VIDEO].
The Cubs, though, could do nothing with Nick Pivetta through four innings. They had just one hit, a one-out single by Nico Hoerner in the second, in that span and struck out six times.
Swanson made another nice play with two runners on and one out in the fourth [VIDEO