It was my birthday yesterday (I’ve entered my late 50s) and the Cubs were playing in Wrigley. Some day I will be in Wrigley on my birthday to watch the Cubs, but yesterday I was at home. The Cubs won with a final score of 13-11 and that alone is surprising in a Mike Schmidt/Dave Kingman sort of way but only tells half the story.

The Cubs had a one run lead (2-1) going in to the bottom of the 7th inning. The bases were loaded when Ian Happ came up and hit a grand slam to extend the lead to 6-1 with only one out. Kyle Tucker tripled and after Suzuki struck out Michael Busch hit a single to score Tucker and the Cubs led 7-1 going in to the 8th inning.

Cubs fans should be comfortable at this point, but the bullpen is not reliable so anything can happen, and happen it did! Recent call up Jordan Wicks went to the mound to start the inning and promptly gave up three hits in a row to load the bases. Porter Hodge was put in to face Cubs killer Eugenio Suárez who hit a grand slam to cut the lead to 7-5.

The Diamondbacks were not done scoring and after a walk and two singles they took the lead 8-7 when Hodge was lifted for Ethan Roberts who gave up a three run homer to give the Diamondbacks a 11-7 lead. Going in to bottom of the 8th inning the Cubs went from a six run lead to a four run deficit.

At this point in time my buddy Ray texted that he was done watching, having better things to do than watch the bullpen implode again. The first two Cub batters in the 8th got on and then Carson Kelly hit his second home run of the day to cut the deficit to 11-10. I texted Ray that the rally was on and to keep not watching!

After Justin Tucker struck out Ian Happ got a single and then Kyle Tucker came up and hit a home run to put the Cubs back in from 12-11. Seiya Suzuki followed Tucker with a home run of his own to extend the Cubs lead back to two runs going in the 9th inning.

From the bottom of the seventh to the top of the ninth inning the Cubs and Diamondbacks scored 21 runs on 21 hits, which I think is a major league record. A classic Wrigley Field game that instantly became famous, but the game is not over!

New Cubs closer Ryan Pressly was brought in and we are still nervous because again the bullpen is terrible. Pressly induced a popup for the first out and then first baseman Michael Busch made a great play on a hot grounder up the foul line and raced to the bag for the second out. Of course, there had to be some drama as the next hitter got a two out double before Pressly got a game ending pop out to short left caught be Dansby Swanson. Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win! Fly the W and sing the song!

Obvious Shirts has already memorialized the game with a shirt dubbing it The 8th Inning Game and of course put in an order for it as soon as I saw it as it was on my 59th birthday even if I wasn’t in Wrigley to see it.