PITTSBURGH — Another day, another controversial home run.
Instant replay would have been in order for Luis Rivas’ first-inning home run off the Cubs’ Ted Lilly on Sunday, but none of the replays shown were truly conclusive about what happened to the ball after it hit the top of the left-field wall.
The ball wound up at the feet of a surprised Alfonso Soriano, but umpire Wally Bell ruled it was a home run.
“I’m not sure what the ball hit,” Soriano said. “I guess the ball hit the wall. I was just trying to catch the ball, so I’m not sure what it hit.”
Cubs manager Lou Piniella went on the field to ask about the call but didn’t take any questions about it later. Center fielder Reed Johnson might have had the best look at the play.
“It looked like the ball hit the top of the wall, bounced straight up and came down on the field,” Johnson said. “I think the umpire told Lou that a fan hit the ball.”
Lilly had put the home run out of his mind.
“I haven’t seen it on video,” Lilly said after the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 6-5, 11-inning victory. “I really didn’t think much about it — home run or not. I know the pitch wasn’t very good. It would have been nice to see it called back, but I made a lot of mistakes.”
Drawing straws
Piniella, who declined to meet with reporters after Saturday night’s 14-inning loss, made a rare admission on Sunday. He said he did not know what he was going to do when he went to the mound with two on and two outs in the 12th inning.
“If you noticed, I dilly-dallied when I got out there,” Piniella said. “My mind was spinning. I had two choices and I wasn’t sure of which one.”
Piniella said he considered intentionally walking Jason Michaels and leaving in Scott Eyre to face pitcher Mike Grabow. But he was worried about Eyre throwing strikes (he had fallen behind Adam LaRoche) so he brought in Michael Wuertz and double-switched Henry Blanco into Eyre’s spot.
That move proved costly as Derrek Lee had to come out of the game, and Blanco failed to handle a one-hop throw from Ryan Theriot to start Pittsburgh’s rally in the 14th.
“I didn’t have enough pitchers to use somebody for one batter (and pinch-hit for them in the next inning),” Piniella said. “The only choice I had with the double-switch was to do it with [Aramis] Ramirez at third base or Lee at first base. I thought Henry could handle first better than third.”
Extra innings
Five extra innings on Saturday and two more on Sunday have put a strain on the Cubs’ bullpen and could prompt a call to Triple-A Iowa before the series with the Dodgers begins on Monday. General manager Jim Hendry said the recent reports have been good on left-hander Neal Cotts, which could signal his arrival as a second lefty in the bullpen. … According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Pirates’ Jason Bay is the first major-leaguer to decide extra-inning games with hits on successive days since Albert Belle of Cleveland homered in the 14th inning on Aug. 30, 1995, and again in the 10th inning a day later against Toronto.
