PHOENIX — Pete Crow-Armstrong was still fuming two hours after the controversial call.
The Chicago Cubs hadn’t done much against Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez when Crow-Armstrong doubled to lead off the sixth inning Wednesday. In a scoreless game, Crow-Armstrong advanced to third on a groundout, putting the Cubs in position to break through with a series win on the line.
Crow-Armstrong’s aggressive steps toward home during Rodríguez’s delivery on the lefty’s 2-1 pitch to Michael Busch seemingly got the Cubs on the board by inducing the lefty to balk when his back foot appeared to step off the rubber in reaction to the center fielder’s move to the plate. Crow-Armstrong and third-base coach Quintin Berry immediately gestured toward Rodríguez after he threw a ball, looking for a balk call in what became a pivotal sequence in the Cubs’ eventual 2-0 loss.
The call ultimately would not go their way.
Led by plate umpire and crew chief Alfonso Márquez, the umpires gathered for a conference in the infield to discuss Rodríguez’s pitch and determined the original ruling of no balk stood. Crow-Armstrong was immediately incensed and darted onto the infield toward third-base umpire Malachi Moore. Berry had to step between them and physically push Crow-Armstrong back into foul territory near the coach’s box to prevent him from getting ejected.
Crow-Armstrong also did not appreciate that following the umps’ conference, second-base umpire Lance Barksdale came up to him after Berry had de-escalated the situation.
“I saw four umpires miss a pretty obvious play,” Crow-Armstrong said. “They’re out there every day like we are. Their one job is to get calls right, and if they get it wrong, they’re supposed to talk about it, figure it out, and get it right. And they didn’t. … I think they find new ways to screw something up every day.
“Now, it’s not to take away from what Eduardo was doing to us today because he was All-Star Eduardo Rodríguez, and he was nails. So when a guy is shoving it down your throat, you’ve got to find any way you can to make something happen, and that’s exactly what I was just trying to do. And I executed, and it would have been nice if the umpires did the same.”
Márquez, via a pool reporter, acknowledged the umpires missed the balk call on Rodríguez, which would have advanced Crow-Armstrong home for a 1-0 Cubs lead. No part of the balk sequence was allowed to be requested by the umpires for video review in New York.
“We just didn’t see it,” Márquez said. “After looking at the video (postgame), it looked like he stepped off.”
Although Busch ended up drawing a walk, Nico Hoerner struck out to end the inning. Diamondbacks center fielder Jordan Lawlar delivered a blow four pitches later by taking Matthew Boyd deep for a solo home run. The Diamondbacks added a run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth off reliever Ryan Zeferjahn while the Cubs (76-58) never got much going in their two-hit defeat to finish the trip 2-4, which featured three walk-off losses.
“They flat out missed it,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s obvious to everybody on TV. It’s obvious to anybody. They missed it. I don’t even know what to say. It’s hard to argue when they just flat out miss it. The umpires said he did not disengage from the rubber. He disengaged from the rubber in his windup. Tough call for the home-plate and second-base umpire. Easy call for the first- and third-base umpire.”
When informed at his locker postgame Márquez admitted they missed the balk call, Crow-Armstrong said hearing that didn’t make him feel any better.
“They had as much time as they wanted to talk about it on the field,” Crow-Armstrong said. “so they should have admitted that right after they got it wrong.”
The Cubs wasted a stellar performance from their three starters against the Diamondbacks. Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes and Boyd combined to allow just one run in 20 innings. They get the chance to regroup from their wasted chances to pick up a few more wins on the road with Thursday’s off day in Chicago leading into three games against the Cincinnati Reds and a huge four-game series versus the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
Crow-Armstrong wasn’t pleased by his performance in the series loss. He finished 1 for 12 with one walk and three strikeouts.
“If I’m going to sit here and bitch about all this stuff, I should have done better today,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Shouldn’t have punched out three times. I should have had better at-bats all series. I was pretty nonexistent. So, I think you guys just saw my frustrations from the last three days kind of come out, and I’m going to stick by it and say rightfully so.”
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