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Baez: 'We made their bullpen pay' in NLDS win

Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Chicago Cubs are moving on to their second straight National League Championship Series after a shocking come-from-behind victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday.

After being stymied by Giants southpaw Matt Moore over eight innings, the Cubs recorded a four-run inning - three courtesy of the San Francisco bullpen - in their eventual win.

One of the game's stars was Javier Baez, who dazzled with his sparkling defense and hit the go-ahead single in the ninth.

"It is, not because of this game, but since day one we came to play hard," Baez told reporters postgame when asked if it feels like the Cubs' year to win the World Series. "And after two wins, I said we got to come back to the third game and play like it's the first one.

"It was a really good game and they got to us and they got that double with the walk off. Today, we didn't give up. Their pitcher, he threw a great game. He was hitting his spot, he was getting to us. He threw eight innings, obviously. We just made their bullpen pay."

Baez was right. The Cubs managed to secure a base runner off all five relievers Bruce Bochy sent to the hill during the Giants' late-game meltdown.

PITCHER IP H R ER BB
Derek Law 0 1 1 1 0
Javier Lopez 0 0 1 1 1
Sergio Romo 0 1 1 1 0
Will Smith 0.1 1 1 0 0
Hunter Strickland 0.2 1 0 0 0

The lack of efficiency from the Giants 'pen isn't new either. They used 16 different relievers throughout the season, and had trouble closing out games, recording just 43 saves in 72 opportunities. Former closer Santiago Casilla - who was distraught after not getting the opportunity to pitch Tuesday - led the NL in blown saves with nine.

San Francisco's 'pen also finished ninth in the NL in ERA while allowing 430 hits over 478 innings.

If the Giants are to return to their greatness of earlier this decade, Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans need to find a way to get better performances out of their back end.

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