The Cubs offense came to life in Thursday’s decisive Game 3 of the wild-card series against San Diego, but there were plenty of missed opportunities.

After sitting on a 2-0 lead for most of the game, Michael Busch tacked on a solo home run leading off the seventh inning and the Cubs beat the Padres 3-1 before another full house at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs advance to face the Milwaukee Brewers, beginning Saturday at American Family Field, time to be determined. Sunday is an off-day for the National League, so Game 2 in Milwaukee is Monday, before the scene shifts to Wrigley Field on Wednesday and Thursday, if necessary in the best-of-five series.

The Cubs piled up 13 hits in Game 3 but left eight runners on base. After Busch’s home run, Nico Hoerner just missed going back-to-back, hitting a double high off the wall in left-center field. Ian Happ bunted Hoerner to third, but he was out at the plate on a close play, trying to score on Kyle Tucker’s grounder to first.

San Diego got on the scoreboard when Jackson Merrill found the right-field basket for a home run off Brad Keller leading off the ninth inning. Keller then hit two batters and was pulled for Andrew Kittredge.

Kittredge got the final two outs.

Before the game, San Diego manager Mike Shildt compared starting pitcher Yu Darvish to legendary actor John Wayne, calling him “a man of few words.”

On Thursday, Darvish was a man of few innings. He got a quick hook in the second after just 21 pitches. The Cubs loaded the bases with a Tucker single, Seiya Suzuki double and Carson Kelly hit by pitch.

Crow-Armstrong stepped up next and dropped his first playoff hit into center field to score Tucker. That was the end of Darvish’s day. He was replaced by another ex-Cub, Jeremiah Estrada, and he walked Dansby Swanson to force in the second run.

Estrada settled in, though, striking out Matt Shaw, then coaxing an inning-ending double play from Busch.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell also went to the bullpen early. Starter Jameson Taillon was sharp, but he left the mound after four innings while allowing just 2 hits.

Counsell decided to have left-hander Caleb Thielbar face San Diego’s pocket of three straight lefty hitters in the fifth. Thielbar struck out two and gave up a groundball single. So right-hander Daniel Palencia was summoned from the pen, but he served up a double to catcher Freddy Fermin, putting the tying runs in scoring position. Palencia coaxed a flyout from Fernando Tatis Jr. to end the inning.

Palencia came back out for the sixth inning. And just as he did in Game 1, he got through the top of the Padres order with no damage. He stayed in to face Xander Bogaerts leading off the seventh and gave up a single, but Drew Pomeranz retired the next three batters.

Keller came on at the start of the eighth inning and retired the top of San Diego’s order.