“I know who did that!” he yelled, laughing. “Whoa, baby! It’s all for a good cause.”

The NL West champion Diamondbacks were the first team to have a league’s best record and worst batting average since the 1906 Chicago White Sox.

Forget the stats, though, these kids showed they can play under pressure with a sound and thorough thumping of the punchless Cubs — who managed only six runs in the series. Chicago went 2-for-23 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-9 on Saturday night.

“Hard to win that way,” Piniella said. “We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it. What can I say?”

Hernandez, the 1997 World Series MVP for Florida, gave Arizona another lift. He allowed five hits and a run in six innings, overcoming five walks.

Arizona also got solid starts from Brandon Webb and Doug Davis in the series, and the bullpen wasn’t charged with a run. Tony Pena, Brandon Lyon and Jose Valverde finished up with stellar relief on Saturday.

“They really played well and they should feel good about what they did,” Piniella said.

Byrnes homered in the sixth off reliever Carlos Marmol and drove in a run with a disputed fielder’s choice when he beat a relay to first on a potential double-play grounder in the fourth. Drew hit his second homer of the series, a solo shot off Kerry Wood in the ninth.

Hernandez walked the bases loaded in the fifth as Wrigley Field became deafening with the crowd on its feet, but Mark DeRosa hit into a double play on a 3-1 pitch to end the inning.

Chicago’s RBI leader, Aramis Ramirez, came up twice in the early innings with two runners on but struck out and hit into a double play, illustrating the Cubs’ offensive woes. He finished the series 0-for-12. Alfonso Soriano also struggled, going 2-for-14.

“I can’t explain it,” Ramirez said.

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Young, who hit a three-run homer in Game 2 that put the Diamondbacks ahead, drove Chicago starter Rich Hill’s first pitch into the left-field bleachers, and Arizona was off and running.

“I don’t swing at the first pitch that often, so I took a chance,” Young said.

Drew then doubled to right-center. Hill momentarily regrouped, striking out Byrnes and Conor Jackson. But Mark Reynolds worked a walk on a 3-2 pitch before Justin Upton hit an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

“We knew that we’d have to try to take them out of it and take the momentum away, and Chris Young’s home run in the first inning went a long way with that,” Melvin said.

Jason Kendall hit an RBI grounder in the fourth for the Cubs, but Hernandez escaped further damage.

“When you don’t score runs and you leave a lot of people on it looks lackluster, but it wasn’t,” Piniella said. “These guys gave effort. They really did.”

Notes: This is the Diamondbacks’ fourth postseason appearance. ... Ernie Banks threw out the first pitch. ... Wrigley Field’s outfield was re-sodded. During the last homestand of the season both the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates had criticized the condition of the grass.

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