The wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field on Friday. Naturally, mayhem ensued.
In the wildest game of the year so far, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs combined for 16 total runs in an eighth inning that saw wild comebacks from both teams during an eventual 13-11 Cubs win.
Ian Happ's seventh-inning grand slam put the Cubs up 7-1, but that lead was hardly safe. In the top of the eighth, Arizona sent 13 men to the plate and scored 10 runs. Eugenio Suárez answered Happ with a grand slam of his own, Randal Grichuk ripped a go-ahead two-run double under third baseman Gage Workman's glove, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. gave the Snakes an 11-7 lead with a massive three-run homer.
Chicago stormed back in the bottom of the eighth, batting around themselves in a six-run frame to retake the lead. Carson Kelly's two-run homer, his second of the game, brought the Cubs back to within one. Three batters later, Kyle Tucker lined a homer over the right-field wall to put Chicago ahead 12-11. Seiya Suzuki would follow Tucker with his own solo shot.
The 16 total runs set a new National League record for total scoring in the eighth inning, according to Baseball Almanac. It was also the highest-scoring inning by combined runs in Wrigley Field's 111-year history, per the D-backs broadcast.
The Cubs are the first team since Cleveland in 2006, and seventh since at least 1900, to allow 10-plus runs in an inning and still win, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com. They also became the fifth team since at least 1900 to score at least six runs and allow at least 10 in the same frame, per Langs.
This is the second time in Cubs history that they've combined with their opponent to score 21 runs in two consecutive innings, according to Cubs historian Ed Hartig and Jared Wyllys of CHGO Sports. The last time this happened was on Sept. 4, 1893, when the Cubs - then known as the Colts - and Baltimore Orioles did it during a 15-10 Chicago win at West Side Park.
Ryan Pressly gave up one more hit in the top of the ninth but was able to secure the save for the Cubs.