Dillon Maples Threw A Perfect Pitch, Got Screwed And Joe Maddon Is Pissed

The Cubs offense sucked last night, don’t worry we’ll get to that later, but once again on Friday night we saw one of the biggest issues in MLB: umpires guessing the strike zone. And guess what, it screwed the Cubs.

With one out in the bottom of the 10th inning and a runner at second in a 1-1 game, Dillon Maples threw a perfect pitch, striking out Harrison Bader looking. But no, it was called ball four by Laz Diaz.

That's a strike. pic.twitter.com/nADQeVWwCK

— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) June 1, 2019

Laz Diaz is cancelled. pic.twitter.com/f9JImKrhzN

— Sara Sanchez (@BCB_Sara) June 1, 2019

A complete joke of a call.

This isn’t to excuse Maples either because he then walked the next batter on four pitches to load the bases and the Cardinals eventually walked it off. Yet, there’s a big difference between having two outs and a runner on than just one out and two runners on. That ball four call changed the entire landscape of the inning and it screwed Dillon Maples and the Cubs.

Joe Maddon was pissed after the game.

Manager Joe Maddon ripped into home-plate umpire Laz Diaz for a non-strike call in the 10th inning of the Cubs' loss to the Cardinals on Friday.

"You cannot miss that pitch in that situation."https://t.co/89ZfWQdB4l via @MDGonzales pic.twitter.com/WaWTKiqxyU

— Chicago Sports (@ChicagoSports) June 1, 2019

Laz Diaz was horrible all night and yes there were missed calls for both teams, but the Cubs got by far more calls go against them.

Here are the ball and called strike calls for both Cubs and Cardinals pitchers tonight. The ball-four call on Maples loomed large given inning/situation, but there were missed calls on both sides. pic.twitter.com/169W7dE9ss

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) June 1, 2019

By the way, that first walk to begin the game by Yu Darvish that led to the only run scored by the Cardinals before the 10th inning was actually supposed to be a strikeout too.

Ready for more joy this morning? That walk that opened the game last night? The one that yielded the Cardinals' only run in the first 9 innings? Per Statcast, despite the on-screen zone, this one also was actually clearly in the zone. Should have been strike three. pic.twitter.com/Yhg49MyGG8

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 1, 2019

All right, to the offense.

Absolute garbage.

Very first inning the Cubs had two runners on with one out. Javier Baez grounds into a force out. Jason Heyward walks with two outs to load the bases and Addison Russell flies out to right field.

Cubs load bases with two outs and Russell flies out to right to end the first inning. Cubs 0-for-2 with RISP in opening frame. Entered tonight with .173/.305/.327 slash with RISP in past 22 games. Had .284/.393/.515 slash with RISP in season's first 32 games.

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) June 1, 2019

By the end of the game the Cubs had six more hitless at bats with runners in scoring position. This week has been brutal for the Cubs with RISP.

And the sad thing is that their current 0-for-25 streak with RISP isn’t even their longest stretch of ineptness in May.

The Cubs are hitless in their last 25 at-bats with RISP. FROM ELIAS: That's the 4th-longest such streak in MLB this season, but it's not even the longest for the Cubs. They had an 0-28 streak from May 9-12. The Cubs are the only team with two streaks of 0-25 or worse this year

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) June 1, 2019

Yu Darvish drove in the only run of the game with a sac-fly in the second inning.

That being said, not too worried about the offense overall. The team just set a franchise record for most home runs in a month and they have the second highest OBP in the National League. More runners on means more runners left on base, but how about cutting down on the long stretches of not coming through with a hit in big spots.

Would really appreciate that, thanks.