The San Francisco Giants suffered their most frustrating loss of the season on Tuesday night, mainly because they had basically no control over the outcome. After the Chicago Cubs grounds crew failed to pull the tarp over the infield during a torrential downpour in the fifth inning, the game was eventually called due to unplayable conditions.
A massive pool of standing water remained behind second base after the rain stopped. Workers poured drying agent onto the infield and worked for about two hours before both managers and the crew chief deemed the field still unplayable. After another inspection at 11:15 p.m. and again after midnight, the game was called.
The Cubs are in last place and out of the playoff hunt. The Giants, on the other hand, are 4.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the NL West. The Dodgers won and picked up another game on San Francisco. The Giants are also now tied for the second NL Wild Card spot. Bruce Bochy was not pleased.
“Look, I’m frustrated, beside myself,” Bochy told reporters, via Mark Gonzalez of The Chicago Tribune. “It’s probably not in the right frame of mind. It’s my last (recourse). I hope they listen and watch how what happened there because in this day and time it shouldn’t happen, can’t happen, I think, with the importance of these games. I’m going to leave it at that.”
Cubs president Theo Epstein insisted that the Cubs also wanted to finish the game and even tried to have it suspended so that the rest could be played on Wednesday. However, MLB rules would only allow the game to be suspended if there was an automatic tarp malfunction. Because the issue was caused by human error and the game had gone at least four and a half innings, it was officially in the books.
File that one under “Things You’ll Probably Never See Again.”
