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How the Cubs won: The heat maps tell the story

The Chicago Cubs offense finally had the breakthrough it was looking for. And the pitching staff got the key outs when it needed to. Let's look at four heat maps that tell the story of this victory.

Anthony Rizzo finally comes through

In Game 3 of the series, Joe Maddon moved Anthony Rizzo down in the order to try to spark the offense, but Rizzo had one hit and the offense was shut out for a second consecutive game.

Rizzo moved back to his typical No. 3 spot and had his best game of the postseason. He went 3-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs.

The key for Rizzo? He found a way to hit fastballs.

Two of his hits, including his home run, were hit off fastballs. He was 1-for-13 in at-bats ending in a fastball in the postseason entering NLCS Game 4.

The home run came on an inner-half fastball. Most of his home runs don't. He hit 32 home runs during the season, but only 10 on inner-half pitches.

Addison Russell reaches the outside pitch

You can see it in the image above. The Dodgers knew Addison Russell's weakness. They went after his weakness. And they paid the price for doing so.

Russell had three hits, all on outside pitches. It's the first time in his career that he had three hits against pitches on the outer-third of the plate or off the outside corner.

Mike Montgomery doesn't give anything good to hit<

Maddon had a quick hook, pulling John Lackey in the fifth inning for Mike Montgomery, in a situation in which he could trade runs to get outs. Montgomery allowed two inherited runners to score, but got two of the best Dodgers hitters -- Corey Seager and Adrian Gonzalez -- out. He did so with breaking balls, ones he kept out of the strike zone, or in spots in which they could not be driven.

Willson Contreras gets an 0-2 hit

This is how you know it's going your way. Willson Contreras had an RBI hit on an 0-2 pitch that was well off the plate. The Cubs had seven two-strike hits in Game 4. They totaled eight in the first three games of the series. The Cubs were 0-for-13 after an 0-2 count in the previous two games, but had RBI hits from Contreras and Baez in this one.