Cubs Take Late Lead on Baffling Missed Foul Ball Call From Umpire

The Chicago Cubs were the beneficiaries of an egregious missed call from home plate umpire Chad Fairchild on Opening Day on Thursday.

The Cubs were tied with the Texas Rangers, 2–2, in the top of the ninth inning with two outs when Miles Mastrobuoni appeared to foul off a pitch. Fairchild deemed it to be a passed ball however, which enabled Chicago’s Michael Busch to score the go-ahead run all the way from second base.

Catcher Jonah Heim could be seen signaling to the home plate umpire that it was a foul tip, but Fairchild never gestured that the ball was dead. Despite replay showing that the pitch was indeed tipped foul by Mastrobuoni, the play was not officially reviewable, and thus the Cubs’ go-ahead run would stand.

Per MLB rules, “Calls involving a decision regarding whether a batted ball was foul are reviewable only on balls that first land at or beyond the set positions of the first-or-third-base umpire.” Because Mastrobuoni tipped the ball behind home plate, the play was thus ruled not to be reviewable.

Fortunately, Texas was able to bounce back in the bottom half of the inning, as outfielder Travis Jankowski hit a solo shot to knot things back up at 3–3, despite the controversial officiating gaffe. Heim then had the chance to be the hero with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Rangers a 4–3 win.