The Colorado Rockies-Chicago Cubs NL wild-card game Tuesday has seen plenty of moments where the Cubs have been threatening, and one in the bottom of the seventh looked particularly problematic for the Rockies, then leading 1-0. Starter Kyle Freeland got Javier Baez to pop out to second baseman DJ LeMahieu, but then allowed a single to Albert Almora Jr. Freeland then got Daniel Murphy to line out to shortstop Trevor Story (who made a tremendous diving catch), but was then replaced in a double switch, with Adam Ottavino coming in to pitch and Drew Butera taking over at catcher.
Ottavino then threw a wild pitch to Willson Contreras, letting Almora advance to second, and then walked Contreras to set up runners at first and second with two outs. The Rockies then thought they got Tommy La Stella on a grounder to end the inning, but Butera got his glove in the way of La Stella’s bat and was called for catcher’s interference:
The split screen of Freeland there is amazing, with him going from ecstatic to crushed quickly. However, this wound up working out okay for the Rockies, as Ottavino then struck out pinch-hitter Jason Heyward. And he did so with what analyst Mike Petriello noted was his hardest-thrown fastball of the year, clocking in at 97 miles per hour. So it took a whole lot for Colorado to overcome this catcher’s interference call, even if they were able to do so in the end.
[Clippit]
