Cubs get 10th straight win on questionable walk-off walk
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
At this point, you have to wonder what will happen first: The Chicago Cubs losing a game or Frank Ocean’s any-day-now album, “Boys Don’t Cry,” finally being released.
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The Cubs ran their winning streak to 10 games Thursday night, beating the rival St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in 11 innings, the winning run scoring on a walk-off walk born from a questionable ball-four call. The boys in the Cardinals dugout weren’t crying about this, but they definitely fuming.
Meanwhile, on the Cubs side, it was Anthony Rizzo who took the a 3-1 pitch from Cardinals reliever Zach Duke to draw the walk and celebrated quite merrily. Duke was visibly angry as the Cubs started to celebrate their win. Afterward, he and Cardinals manager Mike Matheny shared their disappointment with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Manager Mike Matheny agreed that it was frustrating that an apparent strike brought home the winning run. “Very,” he said.
“I thought it was a strike,” Duke said. “The umpire didn’t think it was a strike. I’d like to see how things went if that pitch was different.”
Being that it’s 2016, we have rather instantaneous graphics to measure whether pitches like Duke’s register in a standard strike zone. The results? Well, they’re enough to say that home-plate umpire’s Ron Kulpa call was questionable.
How dare you paint the black, Duke? Pitch was too good, ball four. #stlcards pic.twitter.com/iRoPNpbZeI
— Ryan Baris (@Ryan_Baris) August 12, 2016
Call hurts #Cardinals
Ball 4 should be strike 2
Bot 11 Duke vs Rizzo
14% call same
3.1in from edge pic.twitter.com/47h3DGGt4B— Cards Strike Zone (@CardinalsUmp) August 12, 2016
Neither of those images are going to make Cardinals fans feel any better about this one.
TOP PERFORMERS
The whole dang Brewers offense: Here’s one you might not have seen before. The Milwaukee Brewers scored in every inning of their game against the Atlanta Braves, making them just the 19th team since the 1900 to pull that off. That’s more rare than a perfect game. The final? 11-3.
Carlos Correa: The Minnesota Twins got too much of Correa on Thursday as his Houston Astros walloped them in both games of a doubleheader. In Game 1, which the Astros won 15-7, Correa went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a homer. In Game 2, which the Astros won 10-2, Correa went 2-for-4 with a homer and three run scored. Not a bad day of work.
Danny Duffy: If you haven’t noticed, Danny Duffy is having himself a heck of a season for the Royals. He improved to 9-1 by tossing a complete game and scattering seven hits in K.C.’s 2-1 win over the White Sox.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
The Rockies and the Rangers found themselves in a slug out. After the Rangers scored four runs in the seventh inning to take a 9-7 lead, the Rockies roared back with five in the eighth. Carlos Gonzalez had the key hit, a three-run, pinch-hit double that broke a 9-9 tie and gave the Rockies at 12-9 win.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
Yankees 4, Red Sox 2: Alex Rodriguez, hitting in the cleanup spot, goes 0-for-4 but gives the Yankees an insurance run with an RBI on an eighth inning fielder’s choice.
Pirates 4, Padres 0: Rookie Jameson Tallion tosses eight scoreless innings for the Pirates.
Indians 14, Angels 4: Mike Trout homers in the first for the Angels, but that was about the only thing that went right. The Indians score five in the first inning and just keep pouring it on. Mike Napoli and Lonnie Chisenhall each had four RBIs.
D-backs 9, Mets 0: The Mets lose their third straight and Terry Collins was really, really not happy about it after the game.
Orioles 9, A’s 6: The Orioles offense wakes up, thanks to Mark Trumbo’s five-RBI day, including a grand slam.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz