Cubs extend National League Division Series with 4-3 win against the Brewers in Game 3

With a 4-3 win against the Brewers on Wednesday, the Cubs proved there’s no place like home.

Back at Wrigley Field for Game 3 of the National League Division Series, the Cubs extended their postseason run at least another game, trailing the Brewers 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

The Cubs were expecting an advantage under volatile Wrigley Field elements. But the shadows and wind betrayed the home team in the first inning.

Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon had already gotten himself into a bind. One out into the inning, he had runners on first and second, courtesy of a double and a walk, with William Contreras up to bat.

The wind was blowing in off Lake Michigan, and the early evening start time made for a unique pattern of shadows slicing across the field. Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner and first baseman Michael Busch were set up in the sun — with Busch right on the edge. The mound and plate were cast in shadow.

Taillon located a fastball at the top of the zone, and Contreras popped it up. At another time of day, it might have been a routine play, or even called an infield fly. But Busch appeared to lose the ball immediately. That left Hoerner and catcher Carson Kelly to chase after it as it plummeted into no-man’s land. It dropped in for a single, loading the bases.

So, all the Brewers’ next batter, Sal Frelick, needed to do was fly out deep to left field, and that brought in Milwaukee’s first run.

After that, Wrigley made up for the lapse in loyalty.

The steep climb the Cubs face after dropping the first two games at American Family Field didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the fans in the stands.

And even if they were feeling pessimistic, Busch’s history-making leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning got them on their feet.

He’s started at the top of the order twice this series. Both times, he’s homered in his first at-bat, making him the first player in MLB postseason history to hit multiple leadoff home runs in the same series.

With the game tied up, the Cubs offense held on the pressure. Nico Hoerner singled up the middle, Kyle Tucker drew a walk.

The Wrigley faithful “Aaahh”ed in disappointment as Frelick, the Brewers’ right fielder, made a sliding catch in the corner to rob Seiya Suzuki of a run-scoring hit.

Then, after Ian Happ drew a walk to load the bases, and Pete Crow-Armstrong stepped up to the plate with two outs, the crowd broke into “P-C-A” chants.

With the fanbase behind him, Crow-Armstrong delivered a two-run single with a line drive into right field. He pounded his chest, and the fans roared back.

The Brewers pulled starter Quinn Priester, a Cary-Grove High School graduate. And during the pitching change, the fans put so much gusto into the “YMCA” song and dance, the press box shook.

The Cubs scrapped across one more run, as Happ charged home on a wild pitch, before the inning ended.

The Cubs had forced Brewers pitchers to throw 53 pitches in the first inning — the most by any team in the first inning of a playoff game since pitch-by-pitch data has been tracked (1988), according to ESPN Stats.

The Cubs offense quieted after that initial surge, putting men on base but failing to drive them in. And the Brewers kept chipping away. A fourth-inning RBI single and seventh-inning solo home run from Jake Bauers trimmed the Cubs’ lead to one run.