Chicago watches a six-run lead disappear in a 10-run Diamondbacks eruption, then hits three home runs in the bottom of the inning to win 13–11.
Arizona Diamondbacks 11 · Chicago Cubs 13
Game date: Apr 18, 2025 · America/Chicago
Published: Oct 13, 2026
Professional · Baseball · MLB
CHICAGO: A six-run lead should have been enough.
The Chicago Cubs entered the eighth inning Friday afternoon leading the Arizona Diamondbacks 7–1. Wrigley Field had every reason to expect a relatively comfortable final six outs.
Then Arizona scored 10 times.
An inning that began with Chicago firmly in control turned into a four-run deficit, and the Cubs suddenly needed to answer one of the most extraordinary offensive explosions in the ballpark's history.
They did.
Carson Kelly, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki homered during a six-run bottom of the eighth, sending Chicago to a 13–11 victory in one of the wildest games played at Wrigley Field.
The teams combined for 16 runs in the eighth inning alone.
According to MLB's historical research, that was the highest combined scoring total for any inning in Wrigley Field history.
The calm before the eighth
Chicago had controlled the first seven innings.
Ian Happ’s seventh-inning grand slam extended Chicago’s lead to 6–1. Michael Busch’s RBI single later in the inning brought home Kyle Tucker to make it 7–1.
The four-run blast appeared to create more than enough separation.
The Diamondbacks had struggled to score, while Chicago's lineup had taken advantage of its opportunities.
But the wind at Wrigley Field created a dangerous environment for pitchers.
Balls hit in the air could travel farther than expected, making fly-ball contact unusually consequential.
The Cubs had benefited from those conditions.
Arizona was about to do the same.
The pitching changes explain how the inning kept expanding. Jordan Wicks did not record an out and was charged with three earned runs. Porter Hodge followed and allowed six earned runs while getting two outs; Ethan Roberts surrendered the remaining run before finishing the frame. Three pitchers combined to face an Arizona lineup that kept extending its turn at bat.
Suárez’s grand slam was only the beginning. Geraldo Perdomo singled in Jake McCarthy, Randal Grichuk’s double brought home two more runners, and Gurriel’s three-run homer completed the ten-run surge. Chicago’s six-run advantage had disappeared through a combination of home runs and contact that kept runners moving between them.
The ninth inning still required an answer from the Cubs’ bullpen. Ryan Pressly worked a scoreless frame to protect the restored lead. Alek Thomas doubled, putting the tying run at the plate, but Corbin Carroll’s fly ball was caught by Swanson. Chicago finished with 18 hits to Arizona’s 15, including five home runs against the Diamondbacks’ two. Those totals explain why the afternoon remained unsettled even after the historic eighth: neither offense had been easy to retire.
Ten runs change everything
Gavin Sheets' fourth-inning home run restored the distance the Cubs had just begun to close. Nico Hoerner had singled in Seiya Suzuki in the top half, reducing San Diego's lead to 2–1. Sheets answered with a two-run homer in the bottom half, making it 4–1. Neither team scored again.
DOPE Sports Network Staff · Oct 2, 2026
The Padres scored twice before Matthew Boyd finished the first inning, and Michael King made sure the Cubs never supplied an answer. San Diego won the Wild Card opener 8–0 on September 29, placing Chicago one loss from elimination after a game defined by early power and seven innings of one-hit pitching.
DOPE Sports Network Staff · Oct 1, 2026
CHICAGO: When the Cubs traded for Kyle Tucker last December, they knew there was a possibility he would spend only one season at Wrigley Field.
The Diamondbacks produced a 10-run eighth inning.
Eugenio Suárez contributed a grand slam.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. added a three-run home run.
Arizona's offense turned a 7–1 deficit into an 11–7 lead within a single half-inning.
The reversal was remarkable because Chicago's advantage had appeared secure only minutes earlier.
For Cubs pitchers, the inning demonstrated how quickly prolonged offensive pressure can destroy a favorable situation.
A walk, a hit or an unsuccessful pitching change can create additional opportunities for hitters capable of driving the ball out of the park.
Against Arizona, those opportunities multiplied.
The Diamondbacks had scored 10 runs.
Chicago now needed at least four to avoid defeat.
The Cubs answer immediately
The bottom of the eighth began with a baserunner.
Nico Hoerner was hit by a pitch.
Pete Crow-Armstrong walked.
Those plate appearances created the conditions for a major offensive response before Chicago had recorded a hit.
Kelly delivered the first decisive swing.
His home run, his second of the afternoon, reduced Arizona's advantage.
The Cubs still trailed, but the comeback was now plausible.
Tucker then delivered another home run, giving Chicago the lead.
Suzuki followed with a 440-foot blast to center field.
The sequence transformed an 11–7 deficit into a 13–11 Chicago advantage.
Wrigley Field had experienced two completely different games within the same inning.
Arizona had appeared to complete a historic comeback.
The Cubs had immediately produced another.
Seven home runs and a record-setting inning
The teams combined for seven home runs.
Two of those were grand slams, one from Happ and one from Suárez.
That alone created an unusual statistical distinction.
But the 16 eighth-inning runs were the game's most extraordinary feature.
MLB reported that the previous Wrigley Field record for combined runs in a single inning had been 15, established in August 1922.
Friday's eighth surpassed that mark.
Chicago also became one of only a handful of clubs since 1900 to allow at least 10 runs in an inning and still win the game.
That statistic explains why the victory was so unusual.
A 10-run inning ordinarily decides the outcome.
For the Cubs, it became only half the story.
Tucker reinforces his importance
Tucker's go-ahead home run was especially significant.
The Cubs acquired him from Houston during the offseason to provide the kind of elite offensive production capable of changing important games.
Against Arizona, he did exactly that.
The Diamondbacks had already taken control of the scoreboard.
Chicago needed one more decisive swing.
Tucker supplied it.
Suzuki's subsequent home run provided additional separation, but Tucker's contribution changed the lead.
Those are the situations in which a star acquisition can justify the cost of obtaining him.
The Cubs did not need Tucker merely to accumulate regular-season statistics.
They needed him to influence games at the moments when the outcome remained uncertain.
One afternoon, two opposing lessons
Chicago's offense deserves credit for refusing to concede after Arizona's extraordinary inning.
The lineup created baserunners, punished mistakes and generated enough power to reverse the score.
But the pitching staff must also examine how it allowed a six-run lead to disappear.
Scoring 13 runs does not eliminate the need to prevent opponents from scoring 11.
The Cubs escaped with a victory because their hitters were extraordinary.
They cannot expect to reproduce that level of offensive production every time a large lead evaporates.
Still, Friday belonged to the hitters and the crowd.
Wrigley Field watched Arizona score 10 times.
Then it watched Chicago answer with six.
The Cubs did not merely survive a historic inning.
They won it.
.jpg){kind=link}
