PHOENIX — Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong had a plane to catch, an off-day in Chicago to enjoy, but long after the Cubs’ 2-0 defeat to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, Aug. 26, the dude was still seething.
He was livid at the umpiring crew for not calling a balk that would have led to a go-ahead run.
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He was angry at himself for his struggles in the three-game series, going 1-for-12 and striking out three times, twice against Diamondbacks ace Eduardo Rodriguez.
And he was frustrated knowing that time is running out if they’re going to have any chance to catch the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central.
The good news?
Well, at least Cubs third base coach Quentin Berry and manager Craig Counsell made sure that Crow-Armstrong was not kicked out of the game and avoided a potential suspension as he tried to charge toward third-base umpire Malachi Moore.
Crow-Armstrong, who led off the sixth inning with a double for his lone hit of the series, was dancing off third base in a scoreless game when Diamondbacks ace Eduardo Rodriguez was ready to throw a pitch out of the windup to Michael Busch. Rodriguez saw Crow-Armstrong break toward home, stepped off the rubber, and then threw home to catcher James McCann.
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“When a guy is shoving it down your throat,” Crow-Armstrong said, “you’ve got to find any way you can to make something happen, and that’s exactly what I was just trying to do. And I executed. It would have been nice if the umpires did the same.”
Berry and Crow-Armstrong immediately screamed for a balk. Counsell ran out from the dugout arguing the same. The umpires, led by home plate umpire and crew chief Alfonso Marquez, gathered the umpires together. No one saw the infraction.
It was ruled a legal pitch, and Crow-Amstrong’s head looked like it was going to explode. He charged toward Moore, who perhaps had the cleanest look of the infraction along with first base umpire Mike Estabrook.
Berry grabbed Crow-Armstrong, Counsell ran toward Crow-Armstrong to help calm him, but the non-call stood, only for the umpiring crew to concede after the game that they missed it.
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“We just didn’t see it,” Marquez said. “We just didn’t see it. After looking at the video, it looked like he stepped off.”
The fact that the umpiring crew conceded the mistake did nothing to pacify Crow-Armstrong.
“No, it doesn’t make me feel any better,” Crow-Armstrong said, “that they admitted that they missed the call. They had as much time as they wanted to talk about it on the field, so they should have admitted that right after they got it wrong.”
If truth be told, Crow-Armstrong was actually more agitated, believing that someone on the four-man crew should have caught it.
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“I saw four umpires miss a pretty obvious play,” Crow-Armstrong said. “They’re out there every day like we are. Their one job is to get calls right, and if they get it wrong, they’re supposed to talk about it, figure it out, and get it right. And they didn’t. …
“I don’t know how you miss somebody starting their motion and then stopping it and stepping off. I just don’t know.”
Said Counsell: “They flat out missed it. I mean, it’s obvious to everybody on TV. It’s obvious to anybody. They missed it. I mean, I don’t even know what to say. It’s hard to argue when they just flat out miss it.”
Crow-Armstrong also was furious at Lance Barksdale, the second-base umpire, who walked over toward Crow-Armstrong after Marquez announced that the non-call stood.
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“I didn’t appreciate the other umpire coming up to me after [Berry] had calmed the situation down,” he said. “I think they find new ways to screw something up every day. So, there you go.”
The longer Crow-Armstrong spoke, the more he started to realize that his own frustration led him to lose his cool. Here he is trying to keep the Cubs in the division race, and knock off Shohei Ohtani for the MVP award, but he was one hit away from going hitless in a series for the first time all season.
“So, if I’m going to sit here and [complain] about all this stuff,” he said, “I should have done better today. Shouldn’t have punched out three times. I should have had better at-bats all series. I was pretty non-existent.
“So, I think you guys just saw my frustrations from the last three days kind of come out.”
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Really, Crow-Armstrong’s sentiments represented those of the entire Cubs team. They went 2-4 on their trip to Seattle and Phoenix, winning their two games by a combined score of 26-2, and losing the four others by a combined five runs, including three walk-offs.
Pete Crow-Armstrong reacts after striking out against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the third inning at Chase Field on Aug. 26, 2026.
The Cubs’ trio of Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes and Matthew Boyd yielded a 0.45 ERA in the series, giving up just eight hits in 20 innings, but still managed to lose two of three to the D-backs. The trio of Alex Bregman, Nico Hoerner and Crow-Armstrong hit .057 (2-for-35) in the series with one extra-base hit and no RBI.
Despite their struggles, the Cubs (76-58) know they are going to be in the playoffs, with a four-game lead in the wild-card race with 28 games remaining. They’ve got a a good chance to host the first-round of the playoffs, just like a year ago, with a two-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for the fourth seed.
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But to stop the Brewers from winning their fourth consecutive NL Central title, and fifth in the last six years, they’re going to have to go on a September heater.
They control their own fate considering they play the Brewers seven times in a 10-day stretch Aug. 31-Sept. 9, but they also must overcome a six-game deficit.
“Major League Baseball teaches you really fast that you’ve got to think about the game a little bit,” Counsell said, “and then you’ve kind of cut the cord with that,and move onto the next day. You don’t need a teacher for that.
“The game teaches you that.”
Follow Bob Nightengale on X @Bnightengale.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pete Crow-Armstrong livid at umpiring crew after Cubs loss to Diamondbacks
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