One called strike may have led to a much-different result for Jeff Locke and the Marlins Tuesday night.
Unfortunately, they’ll never know.
After a couple of close pitches to Jon Jay with two strikes and two outs in the fifth were called balls by home plate umpire Paul Emmel, things unraveled quickly.
And what could have been a scoreless frame for Locke to protect a one-run Marlins’ lead turned into a disastrous four-run outburst by the Cubs that would lead to a 10-2 loss – the team’s seventh consecutive setback at Wrigley Field.
Locke walked Kris Bryant on the next at-bat and then surrendered a three-run home run to right field to Anthony Rizzo that put the Cubs ahead for good.