So let’s say you didn’t see this game, didn’t hear about it, and had a news blackout this afternoon.

And then I told you that Kyle Hendricks was going to have the shortest, worst start of his career, that Paul Skenes was on the mound for the Pirates, and that the Cubs were going to be down seven runs after five innings.

They would have sighed and accepted another loss and maybe been a little happy that the Cubs had won two of three games.

And then I’ll tell you about the Cubs’ most incredible comeback of the 2024 season, perhaps the team’s best comeback since their ice-cold victory over the Braves in 2018 with the same score as today.

As I write these words, I can hardly believe what I just saw: The Cubs scored 11 runs in the final three innings at PNC Park, completing the three-game sweep with a thrilling 14-10 victory. As Jim Deshaies noted on the broadcast, before Wednesday, teams were 3-379 this year when trailing by seven runs at any point in a game. (One of those three was the 8-0 lead the Cubs blew in San Diego on April 8.) And that game was… improbably… the fourth.

Leading the charge was Christian Bethancourt, who probably only came on to give the hard-hitting Miguel Amaya a break on a hot, humid afternoon. Bethancourt was 3-for-5 with a home run and seven RBIs, a career high, and that also led to this note from BCB’s JohnW53:

Bethancourt’s seven RBIs are the most by a Cubs ninth-place batter since 1901.

The previous high was five and has been reached seven times, including once in each of the last three seasons: Alfonso Rivas in 2022, Alexander Canario on September 19 last year and Miguel Amaya last Thursday.

Well, this is going to be a long summary—and a good one!—so buckle up.

The Cubs took the lead first. Ian Happ opened the game with a double, his 32nd (he has a chance of 40). He moved to third base after an infield out and scored on this single by Cody Bellinger (VIDEO).

However, as mentioned above, Hendricks was not having a good day. It started with him serving up a home run to Bryan Reynolds in the bottom of the inning that tied the game.

And the Cubs took the lead again in the second. Nico Hoerner started with a single and stole second base. From there he scored with a single by Pete Crow-Armstrong (VIDEO).

PCA ended up on third base when Oneil Cruz, playing his first professional game in center field, made an error on the throw-in. PCA then scored on this groundout by Bethancourt (VIDEO).

On this RBI out by JohnW53 of BCB:

From Opening Day through last Friday, the Cubs were 8 for 74 with two outs and a runner on third base, including 0 for 13 since July 31. Cody Bellinger’s RBI single in the first inning today put the Cubs at 5 for 6 since Saturday. They fell to 5 for 7 after Christian Bethancourt’s RBI groundout in the second inning.

So you think, “Hey, the Cubs are doing pretty well, Hendricks only allowed one run and the Cubs scored three against Skenes.”

Unfortunately, that was the “good performance” of Hendricks, who conceded five runs in the second inning and had to be replaced by Ethan Roberts. From BCB’s JohnW53:

This was the shortest start of Hendricks’ career. It was his 265th. He had two two-inning starts earlier this year, then two 2⅔-inning starts, one each in 2018 and 2019.

With five runs in the second inning, the Pirates were up 6-3, but hey, it’s only the third inning – maybe the Cubs can throw Skenes out and make it a game?

Yes, that’s what I thought too, without knowing what was in store for me.

The Pirates scored two runs against Roberts in the fourth inning, including a home run by Connor Joe that simply destroyed the Cubs pitchers, making it 8-3. And then two more runs by the Bucs against Drew Smyly in the fifth inning, one of them partly due to a rare error by Ian Happ, made it 10-3 after five runs.

A seven-run deficit. Well, it’s only going into the sixth, but… I refer you to the 3-379 record above. That’s a winning percentage of .008.

Let’s get to the nitty gritty. The Cubs couldn’t score in the sixth inning, and then Tyson Miller didn’t throw a score in the sixth inning – he’s been SO good since he joined the Cubs – and then the Cubs hitters went back to work in the seventh inning.

Pete Crow-Armstrong opened this inning with a single, his third hit of the game.

This brought us to the topic of Bethancourt (VIDEO).

The ball was crushed! (VIDEO)

Okay, it’s 10:5 and you’re thinking, “Hmmm. Maybe there’s a chance.” Okay, maybe YOU didn’t think that, but I did.

Daniel Palencia pitched the bottom of the seventh inning and, as usual, had trouble with walks. Eventually, the Pirates loaded the bases with two outs, but Palencia ended the inning with a ground out.

Old friend Aroldis Chapman came in to pitch for the Pirates and the Cubs gave him a good beating. Dansby Swanson walked with one out and PCA hit another single, his fourth hit. This is PCA’s first four-hit game of his career and he had a great August. More on PCA’s four-hit game from BCB’s JohnW53:

Pete Crow-Armstrong had four hits today at 22 years, 156 days old. The last Cub to have 4 hits in a game at a younger age was Kyle Schwarber, who went 4 for 7 in a 13-inning win at Cincinnati on July 21, 2015, at 22 years and 138 days old. Schwarber was also the last to do so in a regulation game: 4 for 5 in a 17-0 win at Cleveland on June 17, 2015, at 22 years and 104 days old.

PCA’s game was the 34th of at least four hits by a Cub his age or younger. Starlin Castro had eight, Ken Hubbs had four, Phil Cavarretta and Woody English had three, and Charlie Hollocher, Ron Santo and Schwarber had two.

Cavarretta was the youngest, hitting 4 for 5, all singles, in a 13-inning, 10-8 win at Pittsburgh on July 6, 1935, at the age of 18 years, 352 days.

Hey, there’s that guy Bethancourt again! (VIDEO)

If you’re counting, that’s now five RBI for Bethancourt. The Pirates weren’t paying him any attention, so he stole third base, where he easily scored on this single by Happ (VIDEO).

Ten to eight. Well, that almost seems doable! (NARRATOR: “And it was!”)

The Cubs might have scored more in this inning if Mike Tauchman hadn’t hit that odd double play ball (VIDEO).

The ball was in play, although Happ stayed near first base in case it had been a line drive. When Pirates second baseman Akila Williams threw to Joe, Joe only had to tag Happ and Tauchman to end the inning. Craig Counsell came out for a discussion, but probably got that explanation and the inning was over.

Porter Hodge was called up for the remainder of the eighth inning after throwing just five pitches to close out Tuesday’s game, and he retired the next three Pirates after a leadoff single.

Now comes what you’ve been waiting for: the Cubs’ ninth-inning comeback against Pirates closer David Bednar. Bednar has made some spectacular blown saves this year, but perhaps none as spectacular as this one.

Seiya Suzuki led off with a single. Cody Bellinger forced Suzuki to second base, but then Isaac Paredes singled. Luis Vázquez walked for Paredes and Hoerner got a walk to load the bases.

Swanson managed to beat this double play relay and Bellinger scored (VIDEO).

Now it’s 10-9, but there are two outs and runners on first and third base. Swanson stole second base to prevent any force play there, and the Pirates then decided to intentionally pass PCA to allow that force play to resume.

It seems the Cubs took it personally, because that’s when all the fun began.

With this single, Bethancourt put the Cubs in the lead (VIDEO).

PCA advanced to second place with this hit, and after the Pirates substituted Bednar for Jalen Beeks, Happ scored with this single (VIDEO).

The carousel continued with this single from Tauchman (VIDEO).

Bethancourt scored to make it 13-10 and Happ moved to third base, where he scored with another single, this time by Suzuki (VIDEO).

Six hits in that inning – all singles – plus two walks (one intentional) led to that six-run winning rally, one of the Cubs’ best innings all year.

The Cubs were down seven runs. Now it wasn’t even a save situation, so Hodge was brought in instead of Jorge López to finish things off, which he did with this strikeout (VIDEO).

Kudos especially to Bethancourt, who played the game of his life — and remember, the Marlins let him go because he had a batting average of .159/.198/.268 in 88 at-bats. With the Cubs, he’s now hitting .407/.448/.889 (11 for 27) with four doubles, three home runs and 16 RBIs — and that’s in just 11 games as a Cubs. You just never know. More on Bethancourt’s day:

Congratulations also to PCA for his first four-hit game, to Happ for three hits, and to the team as a whole for taking advantage of the Pirates’ poor bullpen performance to score 16 hits, seven walks, and 14 runs. The 41 runs the Cubs scored in this series are the most the Cubs have ever scored in a three-game series in Pittsburgh, according to the Marquee broadcast.

One final note: The game lasted 3:37 — all three games in this series lasted over three hours — mainly because 391 pitches were thrown (201 of them by Cubs pitchers!). The average for a nine-inning game is about 250.

Sometimes there’s too much talk about wins like this one creating “momentum” – usually momentum is only as good as what you bring to the field each afternoon or evening. But I’ll say it here and now: If the Cubs do indeed make an improbable run and reach the postseason, they’ll look back on this game as one of the key moments of the 2024 season. I’ve said all year that the Cubs were playing below their talent level, and now they seem to be playing at that level. They’re a lot of fun to watch.

If the Twins can beat the Braves tonight, the Cubs will win a game in the wild-card standings, which would be great. The Cubs are 5-1 heading into this important road game and have a nice day off on Thursday before opening a three-game series against the Nationals on Friday night in Washington. The Cubs have not named any starters for the Nats series yet, but Shōta Imanaga should be up next Friday. The Nats will start Jake Irvin in the series opener, which takes place Friday night at 5:45 p.m. CT. The telecast will be on Marquee Sports Network.