The Cubs had every reason to be furious with the umpiring crew on Wednesday after Alfonso Márquez (and his entire crew) missed one of the more blatant balks we've ever seen.
The entire scene unfolded in the sixth inning of the Cubs' eventual 2-0 loss to the Diamondbacks. With Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong on third with two outs in a scoreless game, he made a double move to try to distract D-backs pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez.
And it worked to perfection.
Rodriguez started his delivery towards home, but he then stepped off the rubber mid-delivery and threw home. It was a clear balk. Yet, Márquez convened with his umpires and ruled no balk had occurred.
That set Crow-Armstrong off. And thanks to Jomboy Media, we have an idea of what was said. (Warning:
Video contains NSFW language)
"I saw four umpires miss a pretty obvious play." -Pete Crow-Armstrong pic.twitter.com/0QEoI9bD8j
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 27, 2026
Nico Hoerner proceeded to strike out to end the inning. Crow-Armstrong was not ejected for his outburst either.
After the game, Márquez admitted that the call was missed. He said via ESPN:
"We just didn't see it. After looking at the video, it looked like [Rodriguez] stepped off."
At least he owned up to it, but four MLB umpires should never miss a call like that.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: What a livid Pete Crow-Armstrong said to the umpires after a blatant missed balk
