NLDS Game 3: Giants stay alive with thrilling walk-off win over Cubs

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Do you believe in even-year magic? The San Francisco Giants, Conor Gillaspie and Joe Panik sure do.
The Giants shocked the Chicago Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, pulling off another of their unlikely victories from the brink of elimination. The Giants turned a near Cubs sweep into a 6-5 win thanks to a thrilling eighth-inning rally and a 13th-inning walk-off winner.
This time it was Gillaspie who tripled in the eight inning off fireballer Aroldis Chapman to put the Giants ahead and Joe Panik who doubled in the 13th to win the game after a Kris Bryant homer sent it to extras in the ninth. It all forces a Game 4 in this series, where the Giants will have to muster the magic again if their season is to continue.

Conor Gillaspie kept the Giants alive with his eighth-inning triple. (AP) • Conor Gillaspie does it again! After assuming the role of unlikely hero in the NL wild-card game with his three-run homer, he added to his postseason lore in Game 3 with a two-run triple that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead for the Giants. And against Aroldis Chapman, no less. To put all this in some context, Gillaspie had 25 RBIs in the regular season and he now has five in this postseason.
• Panik put an end to this five-hour game by doubling deep to right field. That brought home Brandon Crawford, who doubled off reliever Mike Mongomery to start the inning. It was Panik’s third hit of the night to go with two walks.
• Buster Posey did his part to help the Giants. After coming into the game 1-for-15 against Arrieta in his career, Posey got three hits in three at-bats against Arrieta, one of which brought home the Giants’ first run in the third inning. He also drew a walk in the ninth that helped set up Gillaspie’s big hit.
Kris Bryant, rounding the bases on his game-tying homer. (AP) • Bryant had a moment for the Cubs history books. With Dexter Fowler on first base in the ninth inning, Bryant hit a homer to left field that barely cleared the fence. But a homer is a homer, especially a two-run homer when your*team is down two in the ninth inning. It was Bryant’s first homer of the series and it couldn’t have come at a bigger time for the Cubs.
• We have to include the man who out Bumgarner’d Bumgarner. Arrieta not only turned in a solid outing on the mound — six innings, two runs, five strikeouts — but his three-run homer in the second inning was one of the game’s most important moments, even if 11 more innings followed.

Aroldis Chapman, actually hanging his head. (AP) • When Cubs manager Joe Maddon went to Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning, it was a gutsy call. He’d need to get a six-out save, which isn’t at all the norm. But Chapman is nothing if not a closer who can blow away an opposing team. Well, he got blown away in this one. After striking out Hunter Pence with two men on, Chapman gave up the triple to Gillaspie, then allowed a single to Crawford and walked Panik. The entire chain of events led to three Giants runs — and a lot of champagne staying on ice.
• Sergio Romo, as people like to say, had one job. And it’s the job that the Giants’ bullpen has struggled with all year. It wasn’t just the homer to Bryant that hurt, but the walk to Dexter Fowler that preceded it and set up the two-run homer.
• It might seem a bit unfair to put Bumgarner here, when you consider the three runs he allowed all game on one pitch. But this wasn’t the Bumgarner we’d come to know in the postseason, and thus, we’re grading him on a curve. Before Arrieta’s homer, Bumgarner hadn’t given up a run in 24 2/3 postseason innings, the third-best streak of all time. Yet when you compare that to his night in Game 3 — those three runs on seven hits and just four strikeouts — it wasn’t vintage Bumgarner.

With two men on in the top of the 13th and one out, the Giants got pinch-hitter David Ross to ground into a 6-4-3 double play that ended the inning. It was a close play at first base, and a replay review was summoned. But the call was upheld, setting the stage for the Giants’ walk-off win in the home half of the inning.

Can the Giants do it again? Coming into Monday night’s game, the Giants had won their last nine postseason elimination games. Make it 10 now. One dramatic win doesn’t make a full comeback, of course. The Giants will have to win two more with their backs against the wall. But you couldn’t help but wonder, when watching Monday night’s comeback and eventual walk-off, whether the Giants even-year shenanigans might actually be real.

Just how impressive was that eighth-inning offensive display from the Giants against Chapman? Consider these factoids:

Coming into tonight the #SFGiants had 2 hits off 101 MPH+ since 2008… They now have two in the same inning.
— Daren Willman (@darenw) October 11, 2016
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During the regular season, lefties had five hits on Aroldis Chapman fastballs all year. The Giants have two this inning. They lead 5-3.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 11, 2016
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Gillaspie had never seen a pitch over 100 mph in his MLB career (1,467 PAs) until his Triple vs Chapman tonight (101 mph). #Giants #BeliEVEN
— Inside Edge (@InsideEdgeScout) October 11, 2016
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Joe Panik celebrates his walk-off double for the Giants. (Getty Images) The Giants live to harness the even-year magic another day. With their backs against the wall (again), they’ll play Game 4 on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET at AT&T Park. John Lackey will start for the Cubs, trying to send them to the NLCS, and Matt Moore will try to help the Giants stave off elimination once more.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz