OSS: David Ross bails out a shaky Hector Rondon in a poorly umpired game.
Three up
1. David Ross ended the game on a pickoff throw to first base that probably should have been called safe. He threw out three baserunners on the day, though two of them could have been safe… Solid defense by Addison Russell and Anthony Rizzo late in the game helped keep it close.
2. Jake Arrieta was dealing tonight, striking out eight with no walks and one run in six innings, a nice bounce back from his last outing.
3. Junior Lake is on his way to indirectly Wally Pipp-ing Chris Coghlan. He worked a great bases clogged walk in the first, then led off the fourth with a perfect bunt single. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and a stolen base before being stranded. Junior Lake hitting cleanup and drawing RBI walks…you can’t predict ball.
Three down
1. On the other hand, Lake made a pretty bad defensive play on a sinking liner that he dove for in the sixth inning that could have been a triple or inside the park-er if Fowler had been even a little slower in backing him up. It helped lead to the Nats only run.
2. Hector Rondon looked shaky again today, having a tough time finding the strike zone. It is too bad that the official scorer cannot give the save to Ross instead. Or the umpires.
3. The umpiring was pretty bad in this game, with several missed calls going against the Nats, including one that was confirmed as an out that looked anything but, at least on the Cubs broadcast. I saw several people, including Keith Law, grumbling about #umpshow, but I don’t think this really counts. Umpshow and bad umpiring are two different things in my book. If players/managers were out there bitching about the calls and getting ejected over petty stuff, that’s #umpshow.
Next game: Wada vs Roark, 6:05 PM CT
Draco, I’ve waited so long I knew you’d come #opera https://t.co/wee9Bx0bgc
— Berselius (@BerseliusOV) June 5, 2015