Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Chicago Cubs are in a rut, and emotions boiled over on Wednesday.
Crow-Armstrong was livid with the umpires after an apparent missed balk call prevented the Cubs from scoring a run. Chicago lost 2-0 to the Arizona Diamondbacks for their fifth loss in seven games.
“I saw four umpires miss a pretty obvious play,’’ Crow-Armstrong said after the game. “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."
The controversial play happened in the top of the sixth inning, with the score tied 0-0. Crow-Armstrong reached base on a leadoff double and advanced to third on a groundout. He then tried to steal a run and broke for home once Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez began his windup. But Rodriguez then stopped his throwing motion and looked towards third base to pull Crow-Armstrong back to the bag.
The four umpires quickly convened and determined Rodriguez did not balk, setting Crow-Armstrong off in an angry tirade. Cooler heads ultimately prevailed, but crew chief Alfonso Marquez admitted to a pool reporter after the game that the balk was missed.
"We just didn’t see it," Marquez said. "We just didn’t see it. After looking at the video, it looked like he stepped off."
That concession from Marquez didn't satisfy Crow-Armstrong.
"No, it doesn't make me feel any better," Crow-Armstrong said, "that they admitted that they missed the call. They had as much time as they wanted to talk about it on the field, so they should have admitted that right after they got it wrong."
Crow-Armstrong conceded that some of his frustration was coming from his recent play. The MVP candidate had three strikeouts in the game and his double was his only hit in his last 12 at-bats.
"So, if I'm going to sit here and (complain) about all this stuff," he said, "I should have done better today. Shouldn't have punched out three times. I should have had better at-bats all series. I was pretty non-existent.
"So, I think you guys just saw my frustrations from the last three days kind of come out."
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