Cub support for electronic strike zone grows after game-ending mistake

By Gordon Wittenmyer

Cubs manager Joe Maddon “chats” with umpire Mark Wegner after a bad third-strike call to end Saturday’s game.

PHOENIX — The game-ending strike call didn’t cost the Cubs the game in their 6-2 loss Saturday to the Diamondbacks.

But the controversial call on a pitch to Ben Zobrist that looked well out of the strike zone assured the potential tying run wouldn’t reach the plate, angered the Cubs and increased the calls by some in the clubhouse for an electronic system for calling balls and strikes.

Umpire Mark Wegner acknowledged his mistake when he sought out manager Joe Maddon before the game Sunday to say he blew the call.

‘‘He was awesome,’’ Maddon said. ‘‘I already had respect for him, and that increased it exponentially.’’

It didn’t do anything to change the result.

‘‘You want to get the calls right; the umpires want to get the calls right,’’ said third baseman Kris Bryant, whose only career ejection July 25 was over another strike call that looked especially bad. ‘‘So if we had the technology to get the calls right, I think it’d be great for the game.

‘‘It kind of takes the whole argument side out of it. If it’s a strike, it’s a strike; if it’s a ball, it’s a ball. And you move on.”

Whether the technology is reliable enough to implement anytime soon is debatable. And countless questions surround how the system would work, how it would be tested and phased in and how the umpires’ union would react. But the conversation began almost as soon as the replay-challenge system was added in 2014.

Zobrist said he thinks an electronic balls-and-strikes system is gaining favor among players. And even Maddon, long an advocate for preserving the human element in the game, has converted to the high-tech school of thought in the last year or so.

‘‘A game like [Saturday] night definitely screams for it,’’ Maddon said. ‘‘Maybe challenging the pitch, I don’t know. Maybe you get to challenge a couple of pitches.’’

The mild-mannered Zobrist argued with Wegner after the call Saturday and after the game brought up the electronic system.

‘‘It’s just an unfortunate situation,’’ Zobrist said Saturday. ‘‘Now that we have the technology, we should probably get it right.’’

A little rest for the weary

Maddon has scheduled his annual ‘‘American Legion week’’ for the seven-game homestand against the Reds and Blue Jays, encouraging the players to arrive late and limit pregame work during this mid-August stretch.

‘‘I believe in the point of diminishing returns,’’ said Maddon, who has held a short-workday week in August since he managed the Rays.

This and that

Kyle Schwarber will take a career-high streak of seven consecutive strikeouts into the homestand after fanning three times Sunday against Diamondbacks right-hander Zack Godley.

• Godley is the only pitcher the Cubs have drafted under Theo Epstein to make a big-league rotation. He was traded to the Diamondbacks as a Class A player in the Miguel Montero deal before the 2015 season.

‘‘It’s crazy we traded him away,’’ Bryant said. ‘‘He would be a nice player to have here.’’

• Maddon said he still doesn’t have a sense about whether shortstop Addison Russell (foot) will be ready to return from the disabled list during the homestand. Russell is to be re-evaluated Monday.

Follow me on Twitter @GDubCub.

Email: gwittenmyer@suntimes.com