A unique day brought about a unique game.

On a day where a rare total eclipse was the top story around the country, the Cubs looked to be in cruise control early in San Diego.

But things changed in a hurry.

The Cubs put up 4 runs in the 2nd and 4th innings and entered the bottom of the 6th up 8-0.

But the Padres quickly tallied 7 runs in that frame and then Fernando Tatis Jr. took Adbert Alzolay deep for a game-winning 2-run shot with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th inning.

And just like that, the Cubs began their road trip with a heart-wrenching 9-8 loss.

The last time the Cubs blew an 8-run lead and lost was in June of 2002 against the White Sox.

On a day where the Cubs found out they would be without one of their top relievers for likely several months, the bullpen was tagged for 7 runs (5 earned).

“We just couldn’t stop it anywhere, really,” Craig Counsell told reporters after the game. “It was one of those nights where they had some good at-bats and we couldn’t make the next pitch and get the next out and they made us pay for it.”

Javier Assad worked around jams early in the game but as he eclipsed the 100-pitch mark in the 6th inning, he gave up a 2-run homer to Jake Cronenworth that ended his day.

José Cuas came in to relieve Assad and gave up 3 straight hard-hit balls on 3 straight pitches. The first was ruled an error on Dansby Swanson but it was a 96.8 mph short-hop with a .600 expected batting average.

Then it was a single by Jurickson Profar and a triple by Ha-Seong Kim. After a groundout that scored a run, Cuas gave up another single before he departed.

Luke Little came in and immediately got a strikeout but then surrendered a 2-run homer and just like that, the Padres were within a run.

In the bottom of the 8th, Héctor Neris walked the leadoff guy and then induced a flyout.

Alzolay came on and struck out Xander Bogaerts before Tatis drilled the back-breaker.

“Momentum’s a real thing and they were obviously able to capture it,” Dansby Swanson said. “We weren’t able to push back away a little bit, so you have to give them some credit for really piecing together some good at-bats in the late stages of the game.”

The Cubs are in the midst of their longest — and toughest — road trip of the season, a 10-day West Coast stretch against 3 playoff-hopeful teams in the Padres, Mariners and Diamondbacks.