CHICAGO (AP) – Anthony Rizzo thought he had caught the faulty ball. Many others at Wrigley Field, meanwhile, thought of Steve Bartman.

Despite a play that reminded Cuban fans of what went wrong several years ago, Chicago earned its fourth consecutive playoff appearance on Wednesday night with a 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

No one was in a festive mood inside the Cubs clubhouse. The champagne will have to wait.

"We do not take that for granted," said Albert Almora Jr., who made a simple final. "We are super confident that we are in the playoffs, but the work is not over.We want to take this division and go ahead with the best record at the NL."

The Cubs were assured a playoff spot earlier in the evening when Milwaukee defeated St. Louis. The Brewers, who have also signed a playoff spot, are half a game behind Chicago – one of them will win the division, the other will play in the wild-game match of NL next Tuesday.

Almora's RBI double with two outs came after the Pirates tied him in the ninth, which allowed a fan at Rizzo's price to catch a pop.

Pittsburgh won the 6-all ninth overall on a double from Starling Marte. Francisco Cervelli, hit drummer, played double with a double. Rizzo reached the stands and around the safety net, but Chicago's first baseman came empty when a fan raised his hands and grabbed hold of the hand.

Rizzo had initially thought that he had caught the ball, only to see that his mitten was empty. Rizzo hit his glove as he returned to his seat, but did not criticize the man who beat him to the ball.

"I thought I had caught him," Rizzo said. "It's just one of those weird pieces."

No interference has been triggered because fans have the right to hit the seats – Rizzo has bent over trying to make the game.

In the sixth match of the 2003 NL championship against the Marlins, the Cubs looked set to win a long-awaited World Series appearance as they led 3-0 in the eighth inning. a passing ball that has reached the stands. Bartman, a fan of the Cubs, reached out and deflected the ball before it reached Alou's glove.

The Marlins then scored eight inning, won the match and won Game 7 the next day to win the NL pennant.

This time, the Cubs finally held up.

Ian Happ led the 10th with a walk and was replaced by Terrance Gore. Mike Freeman's sacrifice went up Gore, and he took third place on a pioneer. Almora landed a single left on a 0-2 throw from Richard Rodriguez (4-3).

"When you win a tough match like that, you have to give your guys a lot of credit to stay and not bend the tents," said manager Joe Maddon.

Jason Heyward conceded and did three races for the Cubs. Javier Baez chose his 111th RBI, leader of the Netherlands, while the Cubs won after a five-point lead. Third baseman Kris Bryant did not play because of a bruised left wrist.

Jose Osuna and Corey Dickerson conceded the win for Pittsburgh.

Brandon Kintzler (3-3) got the only batter he faced up the 10th to play a double game.

The Cubs led by five and still led 6-2 in eighth place behind José Quintana and Jesse Chavez, but the others had difficulty.

"We stayed on the hunt," said Clint Hurdle, head of the Pirates. "We kept playing."

Carl Edwards Jr. started the eighth inning but was shaken after hitting two of the three batters he faced. After eliminating the first batter he faced, Steve Cishek gave a run and a two-point single to Elias Diaz to bring the score to 6-4. Following an intentional march to charge the bases, Cishek asked Pablo Reyes to put an end to the threat.

Chicago did not have the same luck in the ninth.

With a runner at first and at the end, Francisco Cervelli doubled the wall on the right. Justin Wilson took Adam Frazier into a popup and seemed about to get out of it, but Marte hit a liner that hit starter Anthony Rizzo's glove and landed the line for a brace.

Some of the players thought it was appropriate that the match in one night in a row be such a fight.

"I think this year there have been more ups and downs than last year," Rizzo said. "It was not easy to navigate and we found ways to win as a team."

BREAKTHROUGH

The Cubs had a total of five points in their last six games against the Pirates, including one in the first two games of the series. But the starter Ivan Nova could not extend the dominance of Pittsburgh. He was manhandled for six points (five wins) on eight hits in four innings.

TRAINER ROOM

Pirates: Edgar Santana (elbow) will soon be operated by Tommy John and is expected to miss the entire 2019 season. Santana, 26, is 3-4 with a 3.28 MRA in 69 games this season.

Cubs: 3B Bryant was absent one day after being hit on the wrist by a throw, but Maddon is optimistic about the injury that will not be expected. "It's painful, as you would have anticipated," Maddon said. "But, he thought, the swelling was not as heavy as expected."

FOLLOWING

LHP Jon Lester (17-6, 3.43 ERA), faced RHP Trevor Williams (14-9, 3.04) in the final of the four-game series on Thursday night. Lester is 5-1 with an ERA of 1.96 in his last seven starts, while Williams has awarded a total of eight earned runs in his last 12 starts for an ERA of 1.00 during that period.

___

More MLB AP: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.