CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs added yet another signature play to their morbid postseason history when reliever Trevor Cahill bounced in a curveball which escaped catcher Miguel Montero, allowing the lead run to score the New York Mets' Game 3 victory in the NLCS on Tuesday.
It happened in the sixth inning, and while the Mets scored two more runs in the seventh who knows what direction the game goes if not for the third consecutive curveball thrown in the dirt which Montero had to block. He didn’t block it, as Yoenis Cespedes waltzed home to break a 2-2 tie. The play might not be in the "Bartman" category, but it was bad enough.
“It’s not a bad pitch,” Montero said after the 5-2 loss. “It seems so easy from the outside. ‘You have to block that ball.’ Yeah I know I have to block it. It’s not as easy as it looks.
“It hurts. How many blocks did I have previous to that? That one got by and it really, really bothered me. I can’t change that. It’s over. I have to move on.”
Cahill deferred to Montero in facing rookie Michael Conforto, who actually struck out on the pitch -- Cahill's fifth consecutive curveball and third straight in the dirt.
“Miggy knew the hitter better than I did,” Cahill explained. “Went strike one and strike two with the curveball. He thought he was in swing mode and eventually it [striking out the hitter] worked out. I’ve been with him for three years. He blocks that 99 out of 100. Unfortunately it didn’t work out today.”
It didn’t help matters that Cespedes had stolen third base moments earlier on Cahill without much attention being paid to him.
“At that point it was 0-2 I wasn’t too worried about it,” Cahill said. “Thought I would get a strikeout or a weak ground ball. A guy on third with Miggy catching I didn’t think about that [wild one].”
Perhaps the battery mates should have considered other options knowing that Montero saved the previous two pitches before the fateful wild pitch. Not once but twice he was left scrambling to prevent the run from scoring, only to allow it on the third try. It was maddening to watch. Was it the right call to ask for another curveball?
“It was, because he struck him out,” manager Joe Maddon said with a half-smile. “So it was actually a pretty good pitch. Miggy's able to block that ball a lot, and he was very upset with himself. It's not an easy play, but it's a play that a catcher can make, and he knows that. So, actually, it played well, we just didn't block the ball.”