The Cubs opened up their Wild Card series against the Padres on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field and runs were hard to come by. The deciding factor turned out to be back-to-back solo home runs that propelled Chicago to a victory and the series lead.
San Diego struck the first blow against starter Matthew Boyd in the top of the 2nd on back-to-back doubles by Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts advanced to third on a throwing error by Pete Crow-Armstrong with nobody out, but Boyd retired the next three hitters to keep it 1-0.