An egregious missed call cost the Cubs a run in a game they ended up losing, 2-0, to the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. At the time of the umpiring mistake, it was 0-0 in the sixth and the correct call would have given the Cubs a 1-0 lead. To set the scene, Cubs leadoff man Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled to lead off the sixth and moved to third on a groundout.
He remained on third with two outs and Michael Busch at the plate. As D-backs starter Eduardo Rodriguez went to throw a pitch, Crow-Armstrong took off like he was going to steal home. Crow-Armstrong's movement toward home appeared to fluster the All-Star pitcher, who was in the windup rather than the stretch.
Rodriguez, during the course of his windup, clearly stepped backward off the pitching rubber and then still proceeded to throw the pitch to the plate. Here’s a video of the incident ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/K0GyAuBARn https://t.co/FzXwkyr61T It was called a ball and treated like a pitchout. The umpiring crew got together to discuss the play and home plate umpire Alfonso Márquez even announced over the loudspeaker that the crew "determined it is not a balk." Crow-Armstrong was livid at the turn of events and had to be held back by third base coach Quintin Berry.
Bit of confusion in the 6th w/ #PCA on 3rd and 2 outs. All #Cubs involved thought a balk was incurred as Pete started towards home. Looked like Eduardo Rodriguez stepped off the rubber, however briefly, before the pitch.@Cubs #GoCubsGo #Dbacks pic.twitter.com/EtdpVzf30m After the game, Márquez acknowledged to a pool reporter that they got it wrong.
After looking at the video (postgame), it looked like he stepped off," Márquez said (via the Chicago Tribune). "I saw four umpires miss a pretty obvious play," Crow-Armstrong said after the game (via Marquee Network). "They're out there every day just 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." Crow-Armstrong said he understands how Márquez, the home plate umpire, could miss the call based on his vantage point. But for the others, he was not as forgiving.
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