CHICAGO — Matinees at Wrigley Field are an adventure for ballplayers, who must deal with the sun, shadows and wind. It took just four batters into Chicago’s 4-3 win over Milwaukee in Game 3 of the National League Division Series for Mother Nature to factor into things.
With runners on first and second and one out, Milwaukee’s William Contreras popped up a four-seamer from Chicago right-hander Jameson Taillon high into the sky. First baseman Michael Busch, whose sunglasses were on his cap, motioned that he lost track of the ball. It was too late for a scrambling second baseman Nico Hoerner, shortstop Dansby Swanson and catcher Carson Kelly, who watched the ball drop in front of him on the shaded grass halfway down the first-base line.
“Obviously lost [the ball], and then to be able to let up a run there was kind of upsetting, but at the same time, [I] had to flush it,” Busch said of the play. “[Taillon] did a really good job at only letting one run up, but then [I] just tried to reset. It’s a long game and there’s a lot of outs, and [I] just tried to remind myself just to have a good at-bat.”
While the Brewers led the Majors in infield hits this season, none were quite as fortuitous as this one.
Here are the Statcast numbers on the play:
• 86.2 mph exit velocity
• 70 degree launch angle
• 60 feet
• 6.5 second hang time
• .001 expected batting average
There were only seven base hits in the Majors during the regular season with an expected batting average of .001, and they were all on similar plays.
Once the ball was retrieved, Cubs manager Craig Counsell visited third-base umpire Ryan Blakney to ask about the infield-fly rule — to no avail.
“The umps got it right,” Counsell said. “You have to have a player that’s going to catch it to call infield fly, and we never had a player really close to catching it. Right call. I was hoping they made the wrong call; they did not.”
According to Major League Rule 2.00, an infield fly “is a fair fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule.”
Since no Cubs infielder made a move toward the ball, or gave any indication to the umpires that they were able to make the play with ordinary effort, the infield fly rule was not called and the popup was allowed to play out.
“It’s a lot of factors,” umpire supervisor Larry Young told a pool reporter. “It could be wind, it could be the sun, could be just misjudging it, but we don’t make that determination until it reaches the apex. That’s why we wait.”
With the bases loaded, Sal Frelick followed with a sacrifice fly to left to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.
The Cubs responded with a four-run bottom half of the frame. Busch made up for the sun-induced run with a leadoff homer — his second of the NLDS – and became the first player to hit multiple leadoff home runs in the same series in a single postseason. Pete Crow-Armstrong provided the clutch knock with a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded to extend the rally.
The Cubs/Brewers NLDS is the first series in postseason history in which both teams scored in the first inning in each of the first three games.
“Both teams came out firing,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “That’s what it’s about. They know us, we know them. There’s a lot of emotion in the game. It says something for both teams, really. Tonight the Cubs got the best of it. Credit goes to them.”
