Tossed Ross doesn’t regret arguing his case on call ‘that can’t happen’
Wrigley Field was fan-free in 2020, so David Ross didn’t get a chance to rev up Cubs fans with a well-timed rant against an umpire.
He finally got that opportunity Saturday afternoon during the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, and Ross made the most of it.
After plate umpire Cory Blaser ejected him for arguing a called strike on an elevated fastball to Jake Marisnick with the tying run on first base, a red-faced Ross burst out of the dugout to express his displeasure and whipped the crowd of 10,343 into a frenzy.
Ross’ rant was not in the same category as a vintage Lou Piniella explosion, but in the COVID-19 era it will have to suffice.
“That was a bad call, plain and simple,” Ross said afterward. “That can’t happen, in my opinion.”
It was Ross’ second career ejection as manager and first since Aug. 29 in Cincinnati.
The tossing of Ross came after Brewers closer Josh Hader walked Nico Hoerner to start the inning and threw a first-pitch fastball well above the upper limits of the strike zone to pinch hitter Marisnick. When Blaser called it a strike, Ross shouted
his displeasure from the dugout, prompting the ejection.
“That looked extremely high,” Ross said. “Listen, we’ve got a leadoff guy on, we’ve got a guy who hits lefties pretty good for us who’s been hot. An 0-0 call with the closer out there, a guy that you want to get down in the zone. …”
Marisnick wound up striking out, as did pinch-hitter Javier Baez. Hader ended the suspense by inducing Willson Contreras to fly out to right.
The loss ended the Cubs’ four-game winning streak and dropped them back to .500 at 10-10.
Ross said it could have been “one of those comeback wins that keep you going when you’re playing really well.” Though he lauded Blaser’s performance otherwise, he said: “The strike zone is important, and (a) 1-0 (count) is very different than 0-1, period.”
The call might have denied the Cubs a fighting chance at a comeback, but it was not the reason they lost. After Adbert Alzolay pitched 4 ⅔ strong innings, he left after 83 pitches and a two-run lead.
Ross inserted Rex Brothers with two men on and watched him walk Kolten Wong to load the bases, walk Omar Narvaez to force in a run and hit Tyrone Taylor in the foot to force in another and tie the game at 2-2.
“It just wasn’t his day,” Ross said.
Both runs were charged to Alzolay, who struck out seven and allowed only two hits in his return from the alternate site in South Bend, Ind. Ross confirmed Alzolay would be back in the rotation Thursday in Atlanta after off days led to his demotion to South Bend.
Andrew Chafin served up a two-run home run to Manny Pina in the seventh on a hanging slider to give the Brewers their first lead, and the Cubs could manage only one run — a Jason Heyward homer in the eighth — over five innings against the Brewers bullpen.
After a dreadful offensive start to the season, the Cubs came into Saturday having scored 13 runs or more in three of their previous six games. The sweep of the New York Mets and Friday’s blowout win over the Brewers changed the mood of jittery Cubs fans who had spent the first two weeks on the ledge.
A win Saturday would’ve moved the Cubs into a first-place tie with the Brewers, and even though it’s too early to matter, the psychological impact after the brutal start might have helped.
Ross inserted Hoerner in the starting lineup for Báez, who was scheduled to be off against Freddy Peralta, who struck him out four times in their first two meetings.
Hoerner responded with a two-run double and reached on a pair of walks. The demotion to South Bend after a productive spring training was a “surprise,” Hoerner admitted, but he appears to be over it.
“Obviously not what I wanted to hear,” he said. “But I was proud of the work I’d done, and my game is in a great place.”
If Báez doesn’t re-sign or is dealt before the trade deadline, Hoerner is the likely heir apparent at short. So it seems logical he would stick with the Cubs the rest of the way to give him more experience.
And if Hoerner is unable to hit consistently, the Cubs might be forced to look to free agency in a post-Báez era.
Despite his league-worst 36 strikeouts, Báez still has produced.
He began the day with six home runs and was tied for third among all major-leaguers with 17 RBIs. But when he didn’t run hard Thursday against the Mets on a pop to right that fell in for a hit, some fans on Twitter called for Ross to sit Báez.
Ross didn’t, and Baéz went 3-for-5 on Friday.
Ross said Saturday that he’s not averse to benching players after bad mistakes. He did just that last season with Kyle Schwarber.
“There is some leeway every once in a while for guys that play every day,” he said. “I respect that. You’re not going to go 100% every second when you’re playing every day. It’s just impossible for 162 (games).
“So you try to talk to these guys about expectations and when you (feel) like they’re not giving you 100 %...”
Ross rewatched the at-bat and said he spoke with Báez about not running hard.
“You just want to make sure they’re in a good place, they feel healthy ... and if they’re ever feeling like they can’t go as hard as they can, then come talk to me and we’ll give them the day off,” Ross said.
“But that was not the case here.”
Ross knows he needs Báez’s bat and glove for the Cubs to hang with the Brewers in the National League Central.
This rivalry already has had its share of emotional outbursts in 2021, and we’ve only just begun.