CHICAGO — Oppressive heat coupled with wind blowing out to center field figured to initially serve as the backdrop of Saturday’s Cubs-Mariners game from a strictly baseball standpoint.

A wind officially measured at 20 miles an hour at first pitch helped contribute to a combined five home runs as the Cubs built an early eight-run lead and held off the Mariners 10-7 in front of 39,047 at Wrigley Field.

Four of the home runs were by the Cubs while Seattle got an historic one in the ninth inning from Cal Raleigh, who clubbed his 30th of the season.

The home run, which Raleigh hit the opposite way over the left-field fence from the left-side of the plate, made Raleigh the first switch-hitter to ever hit 30 or more home runs before the All-Star break; made him only the second Mariner to ever hit 30 before the All-Star break, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (who did it three times) and made him the fastest to get to 30 home runs in a season since Barry Bonds and Luis Gonzalez in 2001 (Raleigh did it in 75 games).

“Thirty home runs at this point is incredible,’’ said Mariner manager Dan Wilson.

But by the time Wilson said those words, the game almost felt secondary.

The temperature was listed at 94 at first pitch with the National Weather Service having given Chicago an extreme heat advisory.

That led to home plate umpire Chad Whitson forced to leave the game before the sixth inning while dealing with a heat-related illness as well as Mariner reliever Trent Thornton in the ninth.

Thornton called for trainers, then appeared to lose his balance and fall to the ground before walking off with help.

“Scary moment for sure,’’ Wilson said, saying that Thornton suffered from “a heat-related illness.’’

Wilson, though, said Thornton was on the road to recovery and he was being treated in an ice bath after the game in the clubhouse with the team saying he would not need to be hospitalized.

“Doing much better now,’’ Wilson said, adding that Thornton “should be okay.’’

There was no official word immediately available after the game on Whitson.

While feeling ill following the fifth inning, Whitson headed to the Mariner dugout, where he vomited and then was treated by EMTs.

That resulted in a brief delay before he was then replaced behind the plate by Dexter Kelley, who began the day working second base, with game finishing with just three umpires.

“Just was not feeling well and threw up a few times in our dugout and then they came and took care of him from there,’’ Wilson said of Whitson. “So the heat was a real thing today for sure.’’

The forecast is more of the same on Sunday which had some observers wondering if the game could be moved back to a nighttime start instead of its scheduled 2:20 p.m. ET.

Wilson, however, said “we haven’t heard anything about that.’’

The Cubs appeared better prepared for the conditions as the game began, with Ian Happ and Kyle Tucker hitting back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first off Mariner starter Emerson Hancock.

The Mariners, who turned in some less-than-desirable base running throughout, got one back in the second thanks to two Cubs wind-related misplays in the outfield, but might have gotten more had Randy Arozarena not been caught in a rundown between third and home on a grounder with one out.

The Cubs then poured it on the next two innings with four in the second — the key blow a three-run homer by Happ, who also led off Friday’s game with a home run — and three more in the third on a three-run shot by first baseman Michael Busch, who now has hit four home runs in 19 career at-bats against the Mariners.

While the conditions undoubtedly contributed to Hancock allowing career highs in both runs (nine) and home runs (four) while bringing an end to what bad been a solid run of performances, he said he wouldn’t use that as an excuse.

“I mean, yeah, it was hot,’’ Hancock said. “But at the end of the day you’ve got to go out there and do a job and I wasn’t able to do it. Dug us in a hole way too early on, and that’s on me. Just made a bunch of mistakes, they took advantage of it.’’

Down 9-1 heading into the fourth, the Mariners might have been excused for just hoping for a quick end to the game and getting everyone out of the heat.

Instead, the Mariners began to battle back, scoring two in the fourth and then three more in the fifth that were all unearned after Cubs’ third baseman Vidal Brujan made a two-out throwing error.

After Chicago’s Pete Crow-Armstrong added another homer to make it 10-6 in the fifth, the Mariners turned the Wrigley fans officially nervous when Ben Williamson and JP Crawford led off the sixth with singles, bringing up the heart of the order.

But the Cubs brought in right-hander Brad Keller, who struck out Julio Rodriguez (swinging), Raleigh (called) and Jorge Polanco (foul tip) to end the threat.

The Mariners didn’t do much from there save for Raleigh’s homer in the ninth.

Seattle fell to 38-37 with the loss and is 1-1 as it begins a 10-day road trip while also falling 5.5 behind Houston in the West before the Astros played the Angels Saturday night.

Still, Wilson was left impressed by his team’s resolve considering the early deficit and conditions.

“Got ourselves back into position where we had a chance later in the game,’’ he said. “Just came up short. But incredible fight on a really incredibly hot day.’’

Illustrated most acutely by Raleigh and Thornton.

“What he does to get it (30th homer) in his last at-bat after a day of 95 degrees – he’s a fighter,’’ Wilson said of Raleigh, who again caught the entire game.

Thornton, meanwhile, left after throwing a season-high 51 pitches — besting the 40 he tossed at Arizona on June 10 — in 2 1/3 scoreless innings as the Mariners were trying to save as much of their bullpen as they could for what figures to be another long, challenging day Sunday.

“A little bit of a scare,’’ Wilson said of Thornton. “But that shows you how hard they fight.’’

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