CHICAGO – It was a victorious day for the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday, and it was almost historic.

In the end, it was a bizarre play that knocked the Cubs’ starting pitcher out of the running for the first perfect game in Cubs’ history.

Drew Smyly was on the verge of pulling off the franchise first against the Dodgers on Friday afternoon in one of the best starts of his career. But his shot at perfection finished six outs short on what overall was a tremendous day for himself & the Cubs in a 13-0 win over the Dodgers.

The starting pitcher for the Cubs retired the first 21 batters of the game going into the eighth inning but it got away when Smyly and catcher Yan Gomes collided going for an infield hit by David Peralta. He reached first base and it was ruled a hit, knocking him out of the running for the achievement.

Smyly became the first Cubs pitcher to take a perfect game into the eighth inning since April 6, 1993, when Jose Guzman did so against the Braves at Wrigley Field. He lost that on a walk to Terry Pendleton to start the eighth and then lost the no-hit bid with two outs in the ninth on a single by Otis Nixon.

In his second year with the Cubs, Smyly finished 7 2/3 shutout innings with just that eighth inning hit allowed with ten strikeouts with no walks in 103 pitches.

Meanwhile, his offense made sure that the perfect game was the only focus as they scored 13 runs on 17 hits. Cody Bellinger (3rd inning) Trey Mancini (3rd inning), Patrick Wisdom (5th inning) and Nico Hoerner (5th inning) all hit homers in the Cubs’ first win of the four-game series.

It was so close to history, but a bizarre play put the only blemish on a memorable day at Wrigley Field.