BOX SCORE

CHICAGO — There was a palpable buzz all afternoon Tuesday at Wrigley Field.

It started before the teams were introduced to mark the beginning of the National League playoffs. The early attendees roared when Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd trotted out to the bullpen for his pregame warmup.

It continued when the lineup was introduced, and it peaked in the fifth inning, when the Cubs hit back-to-back home runs that sparked a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series.

It’s a reminder of what makes playoff baseball so fun and so captivating. Every pitch matters. Every at-bat is a potential game-changing event.

In a three-game series, the Cubs had the advantage in all those departments, and they took an absolutely crucial 1-0 series lead, putting the Padres on the brink of elimination.

Just how vital is that first game? Well, since the three-game wild-card round was introduced in 2022, all 12 teams that have won the opener have advanced to the Division Series.

The Padres have their back against the wall, so they will have to be aggressive Wednesday to stave off elimination. The Cubs, meanwhile, will want to advance but have leeway.

But enough about tomorrow. Let’s reflect on the first playoff game at Wrigley with fans in attendance since 2018 and the first playoff win at The Friendly Confines since 2017.

Momentum shift

It’s hard to quantify momentum in baseball.

But you could hear it at Wrigley — er, scratch that. You could feel it.

When Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly hit back-to-back solo homers off Padres starter Nick Pivetta in the fifth inning to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead, the roar of 39,114 fans in attendance was so strong that ENTs in the nearby area might receive a few more phone calls in the coming days.

Suzuki’s 112.2-mph, 424-foot blast awakened the Wrigley crowd that had been waiting for any moment from their offense to cheer. Six pitches later, Kelly’s homer kept the party going.

The atmosphere that players experienced Tuesday is why the Cubs were so desperate to secure home-field advantage. It puts opposing pitchers on edge. It makes PitchCom almost impossible to hear. And, in a three-game series, it causes the opposing team to tense up just ever so much.

Dansby’s defense

The Cubs signed Dansby Swanson ahead of the 2023 season to be the player who would help guide them back into the postseason. And in his first playoff game while donning Cubs pinstripes, the shortstop delivered hallmark defense to keep his team in the game.

The Padres started the second inning with back-to-back doubles, and immediately had Boyd and the Cubs on the ropes.

Swanson responded with a tight-rope act.

He made a diving stop to his right with Xander Bogaerts at third and the defense pulled in, looked down the Padres’ star shortstop, then made a perfect throw to first to pick up the first out. Matt Shaw caught a pop up for the second out, and Swanson fielded a ground ball — a much easier one, at that — from Jake Cronenworth to end the frame.

Swanson, somehow, one-upped it in the fourth.

The Padres again threatened, putting runners on the corners with one out. Ryan O’Hearn hit a duck snort to no-man’s land with the Cubs’ infield defense at double-play depth. Swanson charged back, made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch for an out, then rifled a perfect strike to home plate just in case Manny Machado thought of tagging up on the play to score.

Swanson saved outs — and, more importantly, runs — which were crucial in this low-scoring game.

Bullpen masterclass

It was fair to wonder just what the heck Craig Counsell was doing when he trotted onto the field with one out in the fifth and a runner on first to yank Boyd.

The veteran lefty was in trouble, but he’d already coaxed out of two jams.

But Counsell, who gained a knack for handling a bullpen during his tenure in Milwaukee, went with his former closer, Daniel Palencia. He didn’t want the Padres’ lineup to have a third look at Boyd.

The Cubs manager’s decision paid off.

Palencia induced flyball outs from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arráez to end the frame. He returned for the sixth, striking out Machado and Jackson Merrill before getting a flyball out from Bogaerts to end the inning.

Palencia walked off the mound, raising his hands, asking for more noise from a rowdy crowd.

Palencia received wish when Suzuki and Kelly went back-to-back.

And the rest of the Cubs’ bullpen shut the door.

Drew Pomeranz pitched a clean seventh against the pocket of three consecutive left-handed Padres hitters. Andrew Kittredge picked up one strikeout in a perfect eighth, and Brad Keller, a non-roster spring training invitee who developed into the Cubs’ most-trusted reliever, picked up the save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Much was made about the Padres’ daunting bullpen. But the Cubs’ relief corps picked 14 outs without allowing a baserunner, shortening the game and stymying San Diego’s offense.