In a stunning display of wildness, the Cincinnati Reds made history on Saturday—but not the kind you'd want to frame. During the second inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Reds pitchers Rhett Lowder and Connor Phillips combined to walk seven consecutive batters, tying an MLB record that has stood for over a century. The surreal sequence saw four runs cross the plate without a single ball being put in play.

The inning began innocently enough when Lowder struck out Oneil Cruz on a 3-2 pitch. Then, everything unraveled. Walk, walk, pitching change, walk, walk, walk, walk, another pitching change—all before the Pirates finally grounded out on a 2-0 count. That groundout by Henry Davis? It might as well come with a fine from the Kangaroo Court for breaking the streak.

Lowder and Phillips combined to throw 42 pitches, with only 11 finding the strike zone. Three of those seven walks were non-competitive four-pitch free passes, making the meltdown even more painful to watch. The Reds' pitching staff entered Saturday with an 11.6% walk rate, the fifth-highest in baseball, while the Pirates' hitters sat right at the league average of 9.9%. Credit to Pittsburgh for staying patient, but for Cincinnati, this was a catastrophic stretch of control.

This historic walkathon ties the record set by the Chicago White Sox in 1909 and the Atlanta Braves in 1983. Interestingly, two of those three occurrences have come against the Pirates—go figure. For the Reds, who sit at 20-12 and second in the NL Central despite a minus-11 run differential, this was a glaring reminder that even the best teams can have their moments of madness. The Pirates, at 17-16 and in last place in a division full of winning records, will take the free bases however they can get them.