Chicago Cubs: Joe Maddon says umpires played role in series opener loss

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said the strike zone impacted the game’s outcome Friday. Poor clutch hitting and playing with fire were the real culprits.

Friday afternoon’s loss is the kind of game that haunts you for a little while. As reigning World Series champions, the Chicago Cubs face one of their steepest challenges to-date in a weekend series against the New York Yankees.

The Bronx Bombers are an early surprise in the American League East, led by the offensive exploits of outfielder Aaron Judge, who leads all of baseball with 13 home runs. The pitching staff has held up its end of the bargain and the bullpen? Well, suffice to say no one looks forward to the eighth and ninth inning at Yankee Stadium.

After Hector Rondon allowed the go-ahead, three-run homer to Brett Gardner in the ninth Friday, Maddon talked to the media. In his remarks, he laid at least some of the blame at the feet of home plate umpire Ryan Blakney.

"“Once again I thought the umpire had a ball zone,” Maddon told the Chicago Tribune. “That’s twice this week we’ve been victimized by really tight strike zones."

Hendricks agrees with his skipper

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Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks also mentioned the strike zone in his postgame comments. The soft-tossing right-hander relies heavily upon the lower portion of the zone. When he can’t get those calls, he’s notably less effective – for obvious reasons.

Hendricks struck out five and walked a pair, pitching scoreless baseball into the sixth Friday. He scattered half-a-dozen hits, dancing in and out of danger all afternoon it seemed.

"“I wasn’t getting calls early in the game, which got me into some bad counts I had to work out of,” said Hendricks. “But I felt like I was staying where I needed to stay – down in the zone.”"

I suppose I have less of an issue with Hendricks bringing up the strike zone. As for Maddon, if he wants to see the true culprit behind his team’s loss, he needn’t look any further than the usual suspects.

Runners in scoring position – on both sides

Once again, the Cubs offense struggled with runners in scoring position. To be fair, credit Yankees starter Michael Pineda for that – over six innings, he allowed only three hits. Thankfully for Chicago, two left the ballpark.

With runners in scoring position, Maddon’s club with 0-for-6 in the series opener, leaving six men on. To-date, the Cubs are batting under .230 in such situations. The club is batting .224 with two outs and runners in scoring position, as well. Neither figure gives someone much confidence when the game is on the line.

And the other culprit? As Hendricks himself noted, he worked in and out of trouble early. The strike zone played a role, but all year, Chicago starters have battled early in games, throwing a lot of pitches and, thus, increasing the workload for the bullpen.

Next: Castro, Chapman return to Wrigley as the enemy this weekend

With a finesse pitcher on the mound, the consistency of the strike zone is undoubtedly important. But the strike zone isn’t what cost the Cubs the game. When your offense tallies three hits in six innings and just four knocks on the afternoon, odds are, you’re probably not coming away with a win.