I will admit, without hesitation, that the timing of today’s weather delay at Wrigley Field sucked for Kansas City Royals lefty Kris Bubic. Through six hitless innings, Bubic was right there on the border of having enough pitches left in the tank to try to cut through the Cubs lineup one more time for a no-hitter. But then the lightning started and the impending weather was descending on the ballpark. So the umpires called for a delay.
Unfortunately for Bubic, the delay – which approached 40 minutes – was just long enough to knock him out of his rhythm. He came back out and walked the first batter in the 7th, and then gave up a rocket homer to Patrick Wisdom. That was that.
Who knows what would’ve happened without the delay. A no-hitter is still pretty unlikely in that situation. But Bubic didn’t really have a clean shot. And his manager, Mike Matheny, is sufficiently ticked that he wants REPERCUSSIONS:
Here was Royals manager Mike Matheny on today’s rain-delay-featuring-no-rain delay at Wrigley Field amid Kris Bubic’s pending no-hitter: pic.twitter.com/OyKchlDVQf
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) August 21, 2021
In case the tweet cuts off the full image of the quote:
In fairness to the umpires, the official delay decision was because of the lightning, not because of the rain (which did hit the city hard, just not right at Wrigley Field). I get why he was pissed in the moment right after the game, but the umpires are just making a safety decision.
Somewhere, Craig Counsell is FUMING and he doesn’t know why.