{"id":1026394,"date":"2026-08-27T00:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1026394\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T00:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:54:17","slug":"chicago-cubs-umpires-missed-balk-call-costly-in-2-0-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1026394\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs: Umpires’ missed balk call costly in 2-0 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX \u2014 Pete Crow-Armstrong was still fuming two hours after the controversial call.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Cubs hadn\u2019t done much against Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodr\u00edguez 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.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong\u2019s aggressive steps toward home during Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s delivery on the lefty\u2019s 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\u2019s move to the plate. Crow-Armstrong and third-base coach Quintin Berry immediately gestured toward Rodr\u00edguez after he threw a ball, looking for a balk call in what became a pivotal sequence in the Cubs\u2019 eventual 2-0 loss.<\/p>\n

\n

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The call ultimately would not go their way.<\/p>\n

Led by plate umpire and crew chief Alfonso M\u00e1rquez, the umpires gathered for a conference in the infield to discuss Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s 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\u2019s box to prevent him from getting ejected.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong also did not appreciate that following the umps\u2019 conference, second-base umpire Lance Barksdale came up to him after Berry had de-escalated the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw four umpires miss a pretty obvious play,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cThey\u2019re out there every day like we are. Their one job is to get calls right, and if they get it wrong, they\u2019re supposed to talk about it, figure it out, and get it right. And they didn\u2019t. \u2026 I think they find new ways to screw something up every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s not to take away from what Eduardo was doing to us today because he was All-Star Eduardo Rodr\u00edguez, and he was nails. So when a guy is shoving it down your throat, you\u2019ve got to find any way you can to make something happen, and that\u2019s exactly what I was just trying to do. And I executed, and it would have been nice if the umpires did the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez, via a pool reporter, acknowledged the umpires missed the balk call on Rodr\u00edguez, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just didn\u2019t see it,\u201d M\u00e1rquez said. \u201cAfter looking at the video (postgame), it looked like he stepped off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs manager Craig Counsell, right, argues with plate umpire Alfonso M\u00e1rquez in the sixth inning of a game against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin\/AP)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey flat out missed it,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cIt\u2019s obvious to everybody on TV. It\u2019s obvious to anybody. They missed it. I don\u2019t even know what to say. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

When informed at his locker postgame M\u00e1rquez admitted they missed the balk call, Crow-Armstrong said hearing that didn\u2019t make him feel any better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had as much time as they wanted to talk about it on the field,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cso they should have admitted that right after they got it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

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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\u2019s off day in Chicago leading into three games against the Cincinnati Reds and a huge four-game series versus the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong wasn\u2019t pleased by his performance in the series loss. He finished 1-for-12 with one walk and three strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m going to sit here and bitch about all this stuff, I should have done better today,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cShouldn\u2019t 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\u2019m going to stick by it and say rightfully so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Pete Crow-Armstrong was still fuming two hours after the controversial call. The Chicago Cubs hadn\u2019t done…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1026395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[410583,1279,960,1271,20404,105829,5386,1818,16755,410584,220213,5436,13715,1277,409891,352202],"class_list":["post-1026394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-alfonso-marquez","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-clay-holmes","tag-eduardo-rodriguez","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-kevin-gausman","tag-lance-barksdale","tag-malachi-moore","tag-matthew-boyd","tag-nico-hoerner","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-quintin-berry","tag-ryan-zeferjahn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117164747482624854","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1026394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1026395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1026394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1026394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1026394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}