BOX SCORE

CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong sat in the interview room past the right-field foul pole at Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon with his hat backwards and calmly spoke for 11 minutes.

Near the end of the 1,200-plus words he spoke, the Cubs center fielder talked about the importance of playing playoff baseball at The Friendly Confines and why his team fought so hard to do so in the season’s final week.

“When you’ve got 40,000 pulling in your direction, I think that’s always fun,” Crow-Armstrong said. “We owe more playoff baseball to this fan base, for sure, and hopefully we just use that energy today to our advantage.”

Boy, did he ever do his part to ensure there’d be at least one more playoff game at 1060 West Addison Street.

Crow-Armstrong delivered a bases-loaded single in a two-run second inning that propelled the Cubs to a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres in the decisive Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series.

The Cubs advance to play the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division Series, with Game 1 scheduled for Saturday at American Family Field. Chicago won the season series over Milwaukee 7-6.

It’s the Cubs’ first playoff series win since they took the 2017 NLDS over the Washington Nationals. It’s also their first victory in a winner-take-all game since Game 5 of that series.

Here are three takeaways from the thrilling win at Wrigley:

Dansby delivers

Signing Dansby Swanson ahead of the 2023 season was the Cubs front office’s clearest signal that they were turning the corner in a year-and-a-half rebuild after they traded away the core of the 2016 World Series-winning team. Swanson was a World Series winner and a Gold Glover, and his seven-year, $177 million contract with the Cubs showed their intention of winning.

In the biggest game of his Cubs’ tenure, the veteran shortstop showed just why he was brought here.

Swanson did a bit of everything, seemingly willing the Cubs into the NLDS. In the decisive second inning, he drew a full-count bases-loaded walk to make it a 2-0 game. In the fourth, he leaped, nearly caught a liner from Luis Arráez, then quickly corralled it and threw it to first base for the first out of the inning.

Swanson almost single-handedly picked up all three outs in the sixth. Arráez hit a grounder to Swanson, who slid to his left to stop it, then threw the ball to Michael Busch at first base for the first out.

Two batters later, Swanson fielded a ground ball from Jackson Merrill at short, sprinted to second base for the force out, then rifled a strike to first to complete the inning-ending double play.

That elicited as much emotion as you’ll see out of the shortstop, as he was clearly excited running off the field. Swanson was brought to Chicago for his defense and his winning pedigree, both of which absolutely were on display in the win.

Swanson took away another hit from Arráez in the eighth, when he charged a slow roller and threw it to first to nab the Padres’ first baseman.

It was another big defensive day from Swanson after his Game 1 heroics helped them take a series lead.

Early pressure applied

In a winner-take-all game, the Cubs knew they had to strike fast. The Padres’ bullpen has been so effective this season, and the Cubs had mustered only one run in 8.1 innings against them.

It was imperative they put the pressure on Padres starter Yu Darvish early and ensure they weren’t trying to score multiple runs against San Diego’s relievers, as was the case in Wednesday’s Game 2 loss.

The Cubs showed their urgency from the jump. Busch led off the bottom of the first with a hit, but the Cubs didn’t cash in.

They did one inning later.

Kyle Tucker led off the second with a single, then advanced to third on a Seiya Suzuki double down the left-field line. Carson Kelly was hit by a pitch to load the bases, setting the stage for Crow-Armstrong.

The Padres had reliever Jeremiah Estrada warming, but he opted to keep Darvish to face Crow-Armstrong, who was 0-for-6 with five strikeouts in the first two games. The Cubs’ center fielder picked the perfect time to collect his first postseason hit, dropping a looping fly ball in front of Merrill in center field to put the Cubs up 1-0.

That forced Padres manager Mike Shildt to turn to his bullpen, as he brought in Estrada. Swanson worked a seven-pitch walk off him to make it 2-0, before Estrada escaped the jam with a strikeout and a double play.

But the damage was done. The Cubs had taken the lead before the Padres could turn to their lights-out bullpen.

Busch added an insurance run in the seventh with a no-doubt solo home run to right field.

Taillon’s gem

Jameson Taillon has openly spoken the last two seasons of his desire to pop champagne bottles with the Cubs. Back-to-back 83-win, playoff-less seasons have stopped him from being able to do that.

But with the opportunity to clinch the NL Wild Card Series and have another boozy clubhouse party, Taillon more than did his part. The veteran right-hander tossed four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and recording four strikeouts.

It wasn’t a quality start. Even nine years ago, when the Cubs won the World Series, that outing might have felt like a let-down. But in today’s game, with what was at stake Thursday, it probably was exactly how the Cubs would have drawn up an ideal start from him.

Taillon carved through the first five hitters of the Padres’ lineup — arguably the most challenging part of it — before allowing his first baserunner, Ryan O’Hearn, on a single. That wasn’t insignificant. O’Hearn was the start of the pocket of three consecutive left-handed hitters, the part of the order that always was going to be the defining part of his outing.

Taillon, though, was up for the challenge, striking out Gavin Sheets to end the second inning, setting the stage for the Cubs’ run-scoring frame. Taillon then retired five in a row again, before surrendering a two-out double to left-handed-hitting Merrill.

That hit forced Cubs manager Craig Counsell to have left-hander Caleb Thielbar warm up with O’Hearn due up two batters later. Thielbar had more time to get hot, though, as Taillon induced a pop fly to Swanson to end the threat and his outing, and he let out a yell as he walked off the mound.

From there, the Cubs’ bullpen did the rest.

Thielbar picked up two outs in the fifth before Daniel Palencia pitched another relief gem. The flamethrower picked up the final out of the fifth, then pitched a scoreless sixth. He came out for the seventh, allowing a lead-off single to Xander Bogaerts, before Drew Pomeranz retired the next three hitters to end the inning.

Brad Keller got out of the eighth inning unscathed, but things were shaky in the ninth when he allowed a leadoff homer to Merrill and hit the next two batters with pitches. A questionable strikeout of Bogaerts followed, before Andrew Kittredge saved the day with a groundout and a flyout to end the game and seal the series for Chicago.