A blown call by umpire Bruce Froemming, two blown saves by the Cubs’ bullpen and another rough day for Sammy Sosa spelled disaster for the Cubs on a cold and rainy afternoon at Wrigley Field.
San Diego outlasted the Cubs 5-4 in 11 innings on Khahil Green’s two-out RBI single off Ryan Dempster on an 0-2 pitch, paring their wild-card lead to one game.
Froemming, who has been involved in several controversial decisions involving the Cubs in his 33 years in the majors, pulled the upset of the day by admitting he made a mistake on one of the game’s biggest plays.
“I missed the play,” he said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
The Padres trailed 2-0 in the sixth and had a man on first when Rich Aurilia drove a pitch from reliever Jon Leicester up the middle. Mark Grudzielanek corralled the ball and flipped it to Nomar Garciaparra at second for an apparent force.
Garciaparra glided across the bag with his right foot before making a wild throw to first base that bounced into the stands. But Froemming ruled Garciaparra was off the bag when he caught the ball. Terrence Long was sent home, and Aurilia was awarded second on Garciaparra’s throwing error.
Baker was livid over the call, which came two games after another disputed Froemming call led to Mark Prior’s unraveling in Tuesday’s loss. “The replays clearly showed [Garciaparra] touched the bag,” Baker said.
To make matters worse, Sosa was 0-for-5 with four strikeouts and was booed heavily by the crowd of 39,054. He’s hitting .114 in his last nine games (4-for-35).
