By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–It took more than five hours, but the never-say-die Giants are still alive.

Joe Panik’s drive off the bricks in the right field arcade at AT&T Park in the 13^th inning chased home Brandon Crawford with the winning run in the Giants’ dramatic 6-5 win over the Cubs.  The win kept the Giants’ postseason alive, forcing a Game 4 Tuesday and preventing a sweep at the hands of the team with MLB’s best regular-season record in 2016.

Both teams staged dramatic comebacks in this one: first the Giants overcame a one-run deficit with a three-run eighth inning only to see the Cubs strike back against closer Sergio Romo on Kris Bryant’s game-tying two run homer in the ninth.

“Good baseball game,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.  “That’s my takeaway.  I think that both sides should be somewhat exhilarated.  Obviously they win, so they’re going to feel a bit better about it, but there’s nothing on our side to be ashamed of.”

The Cubs and Giants have faced each other 10 times in 2016, and seven of the 10 have been decided by just one run.  Four of those seven went to the Cubs, in part due to their stellar bullpen that didn’t allow the Giants a run in 32 plus innings of relief.   But in the topsy-turvy atmosphere of the playoffs, the reliable Cubs relievers and Giants’ closer Sergio Romo had hiccups on Monday.

Joe Maddon turned to his closer Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning, leading 3-2 and the Cubs just six outs away from advancing to the NLCS.  But Chapman saw his 102 mph offering turned around by Conor Gillaspie, who knocked in two runs with a triple over the outstretched glove of Chicago’s Albert Almora Jr.  Brandon Crawford followed with a base hit scoring Gillaspie, and the Giants carried a two-run lead to the ninth.

But the lead was lost as quickly as it was gained when Romo walked leadoff batter Dexter Fowler, then surrendered a two-run homer to Bryant that tied the game, 5-5.

The game would stretch into the 13^th inning when Crawford’s leadoff double put the Giants in business against Mike Montgomery, who was until then pitching effectively in his fifth inning of relief.  But despite Montgomery’s contention that he was still in control, that all evaporated when Crawford doubled home Panik to win it.

The Giants got scoreless relief stints from Ty Blach, Will Smith, Hunter Strickland and Derek Law.  The Cubs used six relievers, but only Montgomery went as much as an inning, throwing the game’s final four innings before Panik struck with the game-winner.

Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner went the first five innings, allowing just one blemish, a surprising, three-run homer to Cubs’ starter Jake Arrieta.  Arrieta homered twice in the regular season, but he surprised Bumgarner as he tried to sneak a fastball past the Chicago starter for the third time in the at-bat.

Arrieta went six innings, allowing six hits and two runs.  The former Oriole pitched in three postseason games in 2015, winning twice, and had won a combined 40 games in the last two regular seasons.  Arrieta also won his two previous starts in San Francisco while posting an 0.69 ERA.

In Game Four of the series on Tuesday, Chicago’s John Lackey will face the Giants’ Matt Moore.