In a game that will go down in baseball infamy, Cincinnati Reds pitchers Rhett Lowder and Connor Phillips etched their names into the record books for all the wrong reasons on Saturday. The duo combined to walk seven consecutive Pittsburgh Pirates batters in a disastrous second inning, marking the first time an MLB team has achieved that dubious feat since 1983.

The nightmare unfolded quickly in Pittsburgh. Lowder, the Reds' starter, managed to strike out Oneil Cruz to open the inning, but then lost the strike zone entirely. He issued three straight walks before being pulled in favor of Phillips. The reliever's debut was even shorter and less effective—he faced just four batters and walked all of them, two on four pitches apiece. Lowder's final walk also came on four pitches, sealing the historic streak.

The seven consecutive free passes tied a record that had stood for over four decades. The last time it happened was on May 25, 1983, when the Pirates themselves walked seven straight Atlanta Braves. This was only the third occurrence in MLB history, making it a statistical oddity that even seasoned baseball observers had never witnessed.

"Never seen that before," remarked one longtime press box veteran. "You never know what you're gonna see at the ballpark when you wake up in the morning."

The ugly inning came after Lowder had already surrendered five runs in a nine-batter first inning. While the Reds' young arms will surely look to bounce back, this unfortunate chapter serves as a reminder that even in baseball's long and storied history, there's always room for something new—even if it's something no pitcher ever wants to be part of.