Through six and a half innings, the Chicago Cubs led the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-1.
They were on their way to a crisply played Friday afternoon ballgame.
And then madness ensued.
The Cubs scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh.
The Diamondbacks scored 10 runs in the top of the eighth.
The Cubs responded with six runs in the bottom of the eighth.
A total of 38 batters hit in those three half innings. An astounding 21 of them scored.
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The Cubbies started the madness in the bottom of the seventh.
Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong singled, then Carson Kelly walked to load the bases. That set up Ian Happ to crush a grand slam for a 6-1 lead.
Kyle Tucker tripled, and Michael Busch drove him in, to go up 7-1.
The Diamondbacks started the eighth with three singles, from Randal Grichuk, Josh Naylor and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
That set up Eugenio Suarez for a grand slam of his own. It was his fifth homer against the Cubs already this season.
After an out, Jake McCarthy walked and Alek Thomas singled. The Cubs got the inning’s second out, but Arizona rallied.
Geraldo Perdomo delivered an RBI single. Then Grichuk drove in two runs with a double for an 8-7 lead.
Naylor walked, then Gurriel delivered a three-run homer to go up 11-7.
Suarez hit a rocket, but it was an out right to the left fielder to end the inning.
The Cubs started bottom eight with a Hoerner walk and Crow-Armstrong hit by pitch.
That allowed Carson Kelly to crush his second homer of the game, and sixth of the season, to pull within 11-10.
A couple batters later, Happ singled to get on for a Tucker two-run homer and the 12-11 lead.
Seiya Suzuki went back-to-back with a solo shot for a 13-11 lead.
The Cubs then loaded the bases again with one out, but the Diamondbacks escaped with a strikeout and a groundout.
Somehow, the top of the ninth featured just four batters, with a Thomas two-out double stranded harmlessly at second.
The Windy City delivered one of the craziest sequences baseball has ever seen.
What an absolutely wonderful sport baseball is.
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