SAN DIEGO — The Chicago Cubs ended a playoff win drought that stretched back nearly a decade on Tuesday, beating the San Diego Padres 3-1 in Game 1 of their best-of-three National League Wild Card Series at Petco Park — the franchise's first postseason victory since Game 1 of the 2017 NLCS.

San Diego starter Nick Pivetta was dealing for most of the night, striking out nine, and the Padres led 1-0 after Jackson Merrill scored in the second inning. That held up until the fifth, when Chicago answered with two swings that changed the game: Seiya Suzuki tied it with a 424-foot drive to left-center off Pivetta, and Carson Kelly followed with a home run of his own to put the Cubs in front.

Dansby Swanson tacked on what proved to be the decisive run with an RBI in the eighth, and Chicago's bullpen took it from there — the relief corps didn't allow a run the rest of the way, closing out a game the Cubs controlled once they'd erased the early deficit.

Ending an eight-year wait

The win is the first Cubs playoff victory since their run to the 2017 NLCS, a drought that had become its own running storyline in Chicago after the euphoria of the 2016 World Series title gave way to a long postseason absence. A rowdy road crowd at Petco Park didn't help San Diego's cause; the Padres, who reached the postseason as a Wild Card team themselves, now have to respond on their home turf or face an early exit.

SUZUKI'S 424-FOOT DRIVE TIED IT IN THE FIFTH

For a Cubs team that spent most of the season looking like an ordinary Wild Card entrant, Tuesday's win was as much about statement as scoreboard — knocking out a tough postseason starter, getting to the middle of San Diego's bullpen, and doing it in a hostile ballpark. Suzuki and Kelly's back-to-back homers were the kind of sudden-strike sequence that playoff series turn on.

The series continues at Petco Park for Game 2, with the Cubs one win from advancing to the NL Division Series and the Padres needing a response to avoid being swept out of October in the first round. San Diego will lean on its own deep bullpen to try to even things up, while Chicago will look to ride the momentum of finally breaking through.