CINCINNATI -- The Chicago Cubs must feel like when it rains, it pours on them, especially on the road, as they saw everything go against them in an 8-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
Most damaging was a fan-interference call in the top of the third inning that turned a foul ball into the final out, while runners were standing on second and third base.
"You know what I would like you to do? Call New York," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said after the game, referencing Major League Baseball headquarters. "Because I'm tired of getting fined, quite frankly. I want my grandkids to go to college. Every time I make a comment on umpires, I get fined. I prefer that you call New York and ask them. Please do. Please do. Because I want to hear what they have to say. It was just way too ambiguous to be overturned for me."
With his team down 3-0, first baseman Anthony Rizzo hit a 1-0 pitch down the left field line, where Reds outfielder Phillip Ervin began tracking it. As he and the ball converged near the wall in foul territory, a young fan reached out to try to catch it.
The initial call was just a foul ball, but a video review determined the fan interfered and Rizzo was declared out. It was the fifth time a fan-interference call went to video replay this season, according to the league.
"The Replay Official definitively determined that the spectator reached over the field of play and interfered with the fielder's attempt to catch the ball," a league spokesperson said. "Because the spectator interference clearly prevented the fielder from catching the ball, the call was ruled spectator interference, it was overturned, and the batter was out."
Rizzo and Maddon immediately argued the reversal with the umpires, to no avail. Rizzo could be seen asking, "How do you know?" -- referencing the notion that there is no way to know if the ball would have been caught without the interference.
"In real time, the guy is going at a wall," Rizzo said later. "He could make the catch, right? Our left fielder just missed a routine fly ball, though. Could he have made the catch? Yes. Could he have run into the wall first? Real time, they call no fan interference. They go to replay, slow-motion replay, it gets overturned.
"It's a weird play and sucks."
The play contributed to the Cubs' 15th loss in June, marking the first time they've had a losing month since May 2017 -- and just the third losing month (excluding March and October) under Maddon since he took over in 2015. The Cubs were 14-15 in June.
"That's below .500," Sunday's losing pitcher, Jon Lester, said. "That's not good. That's not a high standard. We'll be better."
Maddon didn't disagree with his pitcher nor try to spin it. In fact, he said he thinks the Cubs were fortunate not to have lost more games in the month. As is, they dropped into a tie with the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the National League Central, with just 5½ games separating the top of the division from the bottom.
"It could have been a lot worse," Maddon said. "That's the kind of the team we've been the entire month. We've been a .500 team, so it's reflected in our record. We haven't played well enough to be better than that."