CHICAGO — Friday 1:20 p.m. games at Wrigley Field are different, the old saying goes.

In case there was any doubt, Friday against the Diamondbacks showcased that.

The Cubs won the wildest game of the season, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-11 in a thrilling contest at the Friendly Confines.

Here are three takeaways from the Cubs (13-9) win over Arizona (12-8):

Wild, wild day

The vibes were low at Wrigley Field to start the bottom of the eighth — how could they not be after blowing a six-run lead in the top half of the frame?

Two swings of the bat turned it all around.

[Watch the entire roller coaster of an 8th inning at Wrigley]

Carson Kelly hit a three-run home run — his second of the day — to bring the Cubs to within one at 11-10. The Cubs bats kept it going – and set the stage for Kyle Tucker’s first “Welcome to Wrigley moment.”

Ian Happ singled two batters after Kelly’s homer and Tucker hit a go-ahead, two-run blast to right field that sent Wrigley Field into pandemonium. It capped off an absolute frenzy of an inning-and-a-half.

Clinging to a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh the Cubs broke it open with a five-run frame, including a Happ grand slam. Wrigley was loud after that blast, but it was a footnote to what transpired later in the game.

The Diamondbacks rallied in the top of the eighth with an incredible 10-run frame. Cub killer Eugenio Suárez hit a grand slam of his own and the Diamondbacks just kept tacking on runs off the trio of pitchers manager Craig Counsell turned to in order to pick up the three outs. Jordan Wicks was brought in to help eat innings and protect a 7-1 lead, but three straight singles meant Porter Hodge was needed — and the young righty had his worst outing of the year, allowing six runs on four hits and two walks while recording just two outs.

Ethan Roberts allowed a home run of his own before inducing a lineout by Suárez to end the frame. The boos rained down at Wrigley Field as the Cubs walked off the field — it seemed they were about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again at the hands of the Diamondbacks.

But the Cubs offense, buoyed by two offseason acquisitions — Kelly and Tucker — made sure that didn’t happen again. Tucker was brought in to be the difference-maker for the Cubs — and he did it on Friday. But Kelly has been just as strong, even if he wasn’t acquired with as much hoopla.

Bottoms up

Speaking of Kelly, he’s been spearheading a 180-degree turn the Cubs have made at the bottom of their lineup.

The No. 7 though No. 9 hitters were a black hole for much of the 2024 campaign for the Cubs. They slashed .217/.283/.329 and the .612 OPS was 24th in baseball through the first 100 games.

This season, those three spots are slashing .260/.355/.472 and the .828 OPS is tops in baseball.

Kelly is hitting a whopping .419 with a 1.675 OPS this season and drove in five runs in the win.

Pete Crow-Armstrong (the No. 7 hitter) was 2-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to six games Friday. In that span, he is slashing .458/.458/1.083 (1.542 OPS). The team and their fans know what he can bring with his defense — but if his bat catches up, it could be the makings of a difference-maker to complement Kyle Tucker in the everyday lineup. It’s only six games, but his season line is now .271/.326/.482 with a 130 weighted runs created plus, 30 percentage points above league average.

That is good — very good — for the Cubs.

Rea of sunshine

It could get overlooked, but Colin Rea was stellar for the Cubs on Friday.

It was a cloudy — albeit balmy — day at Wrigley Field as the day progressed and clouds moved in. It was almost like the Cubs’ rotation news the last week-plus. It’s been a solid start for them, but the news of ace Justin Steele’s season-ending surgery (which he underwent on Friday) has hung over the rotation like a dark cloud of late.

Rea brought some sunshine in both departments.

Rea was strong in his second start of the year, tossing 4.2 innings of one-run ball on five hits with five strikeouts. It was his second-straight outing against a quality lineup (his first start was against the Dodgers on Sunday) and he kept them at bay, too.

The righty has a 1.32 ERA in 13.2 innings this season and is another prime example of why stockpiling pitching options in the offseason is crucial. It wasn’t a clear path to see where Rea would make starts for the Cubs after signing a one-year deal in the offseason. The team had already inked Matthew Boyd to a two-year deal and had Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad, Ben Brown and Jordan Wicks as major-league rotation options. But Assad went down at the beginning of spring with an oblique injury and Steele’s injury pressed Rea into a starter’s role.

He’s delivered.

Let’s be honest, he probably won’t pitch to a 1.32 ERA all season, but these contributions are valuable and have allowed the Cubs to not miss a beat during this brutal April schedule.

The Cubs will be in the market for pitching help at the trade deadline, but big trades aren’t happening in April and performances like Rea’s will help them maneuver the first few months of the season.

The story was the wild final three frames, no doubt, but Rea’s last two performances can’t be overlooked.