CHICAGO — As playoff games typically go, a pitcher’s duel was the tale of the tape at Wrigley Field on Tuesday afternoon.

San Diego Padres ace Nick Pivetta had the slight edge over Cubs Game 1 starter Matthew Boyd through four innings. Aside from a Nico Hoerner single in the first, the Cubs hardly had an answer for the tricky right-hander — he’d already punched out six as Cubs hitters routinely walked back to the dugout with puzzled looks on their faces.

Zeroes continued to fill the Cubs’ side of the scoreboard, and the once-animated Wrigley faithful began to fizzle.

But as baseball goes, one swing can turn things around in an instant.

And for the Cubs, it took two of them in the fifth inning to bring the crowd of 39,114 back to life.

The biggest home run of Seiya Suzuki’s Cubs career came first — a rocket to the left-center bleachers that Suzuki watched fly off his bat, screaming in jubilation with his fists clenched at his sides as he rounded first base.

Tie game.

The sound was deafening.

“I mean, just simply put, it was fantastic,” Suzuki said via his interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “You just felt the passion of the fans, them cheering us on. Rounding the bases, I felt some nerves, obviously, but great feeling overall.”

Suzuki called his sixth home run in the past five games “a decisive moment” following the Cubs’ 3-1 win.

“I think with the past week coming into this game, I feel like there’s been a playoff switch that’s been turned on. With today, it’s not just me; I think that homer was just the result of all my teammates being there and supporting me, all the fans. I think everybody was involved in that.”

Suzuki didn’t just flip a switch for himself — he did it for catcher Carson Kelly, too.

“I’ve said it all year. Hitting is contagious,” Kelly said after the game. “One little thing can happen, and it can kickstart a rally.”

Kelly came up next. Pivetta tried to blow a 2-2, letter-high fastball to strike the Cubs’ catcher out for the second time. But Kelly wasn’t going to let that slide. He sent that fastball to the same spot Suzuki did — and for the first time since 2016, the Cubs went back-to-back in the postseason. Wrigley Field got even louder.

“You dream about those moments as a little kid,” Kelly, whose parents are from Chicago, said. “Getting into the postseason and hitting the game-winning home run, right? To have that happen today is really an honor.

“Sometimes you go through a little bit of up and down in the beginning of the game, and all of a sudden you might score eight. I think that’s what makes this game so great, and what makes this team so special.”

It was another bit of Cubs history for Suzuki and Kelly, who joined Kyle Schwarber, Tyler Houston, Mark Grace and Rick Sutcliffe on the list of Cubs to homer in their postseason debuts.

The Cubs didn’t quite put eight runs on the board, but the buffer from Suzuki and Kelly’s heroics felt like the lead may as well have been that large. The momentum swung firmly to the hosts, setting up a perfect run from the rest of the bullpen to get the job done.

“It changes the energy of the stadium completely,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of the gravity of a playoff home run. “It’s just about that, and I’m really happy for Seiya. I know he was very, very excited to take part in this and to play in this, and happy he had a big role in it.”

Suzuki’s road to the postseason wasn’t easy — his post-All-Star break struggles were well-documented, and before his home run tear began last week, he hadn’t hit one since Aug. 6.

But a clean slate for Suzuki means he can show what he’s really made of, and why he came to Chicago in the first place.

“With the previous three years, we couldn’t make it to the playoffs. So I was watching the playoffs on TV, and there was a sense of frustration,” Suzuki said.

“But this year with this team, these teammates, we’ve battled for 162 games. The difficult times and the good times, everything included. It felt great. Especially with the win, I’m just kind of looking forward to keep on playing, keep on grinding it out with my teammates and hopefully play as long as we can together.”