McCutchen says official scorer should be fired for calling this an error
Andrew McCutchen was charged with an error when he dropped a line drive Wednesday. After the game he said the official scorer should be fired.
By
Mike Axisa
•
1 min read
Wednesday afternoon the juggernaut Cubs completed a three-game sweep of the Pirates in Pittsburgh (CHC 6, PIT 2). The Cubbies outscored the Pirates 20-5 in the three games.
Former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen was charged with an error in the third inning Wednesday when he was unable to catch an Anthony Rizzo line drive. The ball was actually in his glove for an instant, but it was jarred loose by his slide. Here's the video and here's a GIF:
That's a very tough play, no doubt about it. Ask any outfielder and they'll say the toughest plays are the line drives hit right at you. Plus Rizzo smoked that ball.
Ben Zobrist, the very next batter, followed the error with a three-run home run to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. Rizzo's line drive would have been the final out of the inning had McCutchen been able to come up with it.
After the game McCutchen was very upset he was charged with an error, so much so he said the official scorer should be fired.
#Pirates McCutchen on dropped fly: "Whoever scored that an error should be fired. That's unbelievable. I did everything I could to catch it"
— Rob Biertempfel (@BiertempfelTrib) May 4, 2016
Well, that's a bit over the top. I agree that play should have been scored a hit instead of an error, but firing the official scorer? The hometown official scorer? Nah. Surely Cutch has picked up a few extra hits over the years thanks to hometown scoring.
In all likelihood McCutchen was just upset about the loss and getting swept by the Cubs, and he took it out on the official scorer. That was play was hardly routine, and yeah, being charged with an error is pretty harsh. So is saying the official scorer should be fired because of it.
