Andrew Kittredge made sure to take a moment on the mound to soak in the atmosphere before he threw his first pitch.

The 40,895 raucous fans packed into Wrigley Field on Thursday evening were on their feet radiating anxious tension as the Chicago Cubs’ last two outs seemed elusive to finish off the San Diego Padres in Game 3 of the wild-card series. Reliever Brad Keller hit two Padres with pitches, giving them two runners on and the go-ahead run at the plate. The Cubs, on the verge of advancing, again went to Kittredge, acquired at the trade deadline from the Baltimore Orioles, for a third consecutive day.

“Then I kind of overthrew my pitch into the dirt,” a champagne- and beer-soaked Kittredge said, grinning in a rowdy clubhouse afterward.

The veteran reliever, called on in the biggest

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