The first 8.5 innings of Friday afternoons Cubs-Reds game were rather unremarkable.

The two NL Central rivals battled in a back-and-forth affair that looked like it was headed for another difficult Cubs loss in a month filled with such games.

Then the bottom of the 9th inning added a frenetic drama to the afternoon.

Here’s the inning summary followed by breakdowns of key events throughout the frame:

-Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a single.
-Pinch-hitter Michael Busch walked.
-Pinch-hitter Nick Madrigal grounded into a fielder’s choice (Crow-Armstrong to third, Busch out at second, Madrigal safe at first).
-Seiya Suzuki doubled down the left-field line to score Crow-Armstrong while Madrigal was thrown out at home.
-Cody Bellinger flied out to end the game.
-Cubs lose 5-4.

The send

Let’s start with the decision from Cubs third base coach Willie Harris to send Madrigal on Suzuki’s double.

Crow-Armstrong scored easily and Harris didn’t hestitate in sending Madrigal from first base.

Reds left fielder Jacob Hurtubise made a great play to cut the ball off and delivered a strike to Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who uncorked a rocket to catcher Tyler Stephenson.

Madrigal was thrown out by a wide margin for the second out of the inning.

If Harris had opted to hold Madrigal, it would have meant the tying run was on third and winning run on second with only 1 out for Cody Bellinger – the team’s best hitter who also makes a lot of contact. Christopher Morel was waiting on deck.

“Look, Willie has been fantastic and his aggressiveness has got us a lot of runs this year,” Craig Counsell said after the game. “It didn’t work this time.”

Would Harris make the decision again?

“After the fact, no, I wouldn’t do it,” Harris said. “As we go, we all learn from our mistakes and moving forward, I’ll be better than that. I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job as the year has gone on so far but today was just a bad send. He was out. Today’s on me and hopefully the guys pick me up tomorrow.”

[WATCH: Willie Harris breaks down his decision to send Madrigal in the 9th inning]

Harris said he was thinking that if he held up Madrigal, the Reds would likely walk Bellinger to load the bases and set up a force.

“The only way you win is if you score runs, right?” Harris said. “And sometimes – this is the major leagues – guys make plays. Today they made a play on us and moving forward, I’ll be less aggressive with 1 out, knowing the situation a little bit better.

“Today, it’s on me. I know those guys in the clubhouse, they know me. They know I’m for them and they’ll pick me up tomorrow.”

The ejection

Madrigal getting thrown out at home was only one part of the drama in the 9th inning. During his at-bat before he reached base, he was part of a controversial moment that led to Counsell’s second ejection as Cubs manager.

The second pitch from Reds closer Alexis Diaz to Madrigal was high-and-tight and hit right around Madrigal’s hand. He reacted as if he was hit by the pitch and started moving toward first base but home plate umpire Brennan Miller ruled the ball hit the bat and it was a foul ball instead.

Counsell came out to argue and was ultimately ejected before the play went to a replay review. The play was upheld by review and Madrigal eventually bounced into a fielder’s choice.

“Whatever the call on the field for that play is always the call that’s going to [stand]. Replay is not going to change the call,” Counsell said. “Because it hits some of your hand, hits some of the bat. And so the call is you can’t tell. It’s too hard for replay to tell. It’s just too hard to tell. It’s too hard to overturn it.

“So, the call on the field is what matters. And Nick made a clear sign that he got hit and [the umpire] said it hit the bat. And I knew once they called it a foul ball, it wasn’t going to change.”

Madrigal said in the moment, he couldn’t tell how much of his hand the pitch hit and how much of it was the bat – he only knew that he got hit.

“It all happened so fast,” Madrigal said. “You can’t really tell in the moment whether it hits your hand or where but I definitely felt it get me. And then watching the replay, it kind of confirmed that it got it. It wasn’t 100% on the hand. I felt like it got me and yeah, just all happened at once. Tough call, just hoped it went our way.”

The decision

Zooming out further, Counsell pulled a bunch of strings in the 9th inning as his team tried to erase the 2-run deficit.

Busch pinch-hit for Yan Gomes, who has struggled offensively this year.

Then Madrigal pinch-hit for Patrick Wisdom, who had entered the game in the 7th inning as a pinch-hitter for DH Mike Tauchman.

So why Madrigal with runners on first and second and not Wisdom?

“In my eyes, it was just a tough matchup for Patrick and just a better matchup for Nick,” Counsell said.

The Cubs have typically deployed Wisdom in matchups against left-handed pitchers and some righties. They felt Madrigal’s contact-oriented approach would lead to a ball put in play and fare better than Wisdom’s all-or-nothing style.

The end result

The game ended when Bellinger hit a 107.3 mph fly ball 317 feet to right field. The wind was blowing in slightly from right field to knock the ball down but Bellinger also just got under it.

The loss dropped the Cubs to 28-30 on the season and a 10-18 record in May.

“There’s months in seasons where this happens,” Dansby Swanson said. “At the end of the day, all you can do is respond to it and we have a great opportunity tomorrow going into a new month to be able to do that.”

The Cubs are 2-8 in their last 10 games and haven’t won a series since taking 2 of 3 from the Pirates in Pittsburgh May 10-12.

“You obviously have conversations with one another just to get things on track,” Swanson said. “That’s what makes this group special is to be able to have those conversations with one another.

“No matter if it’s old guy to young guy, young guy to old guy, whoever it is, we’re in this together. We’re gonna come out tomorrow prepared to win a game.”