CHICAGO — The raindrops puddling in the infield Sunday afternoon didn’t quite reach Lake Michigan levels at Wrigley Field, but swamped the Los Angeles Dodgers nonetheless in an 8-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. By the time the tarp finally hit the field in the middle of the fourth inning, Miguel Rojas’ frustrations had bubbled over.
The veteran infielder, who committed an error just before the stoppage and had slipped out of the batter’s box an inning earlier, went straight to the huddle of umpires once a stoppage was reached, expressing his distaste for how long it took and what he said were safety hazards from “improper” field conditions over the rain-drenched early innings.
“I’m playing in a puddle of water,” Rojas said. “Everybody can see it. That’s not the best conditions. I slipped at home plate. Something right there could’ve happened, not just to me but to anybody on the team. Not just on our team. We’re talking about players. We’ve got to take care of each other, and I feel like sometimes just to get the game in, in five innings, it’s not the right way to do it.”
The Dodgers’ infield defense resembled a sloppy mess before the stoppage. Ian Happ’s chopper to lead off the bottom of the first inning took a wicked hop and hit off Freddie Freeman at first base. Nico Hoerner’s ground ball stayed true and rolled under Mookie Betts’ glove at shortstop two innings later. And after a stoppage mid-inning to apply a Quick Dry solution (which was undone by the rain still going on throughout), Rojas misfired on a throw that bounced into a puddle near first base and allowed a run to come home and made it 6-0, Chicago.
Rojas, who was making his first start at third base since 2020, didn’t blame the wet conditions for the error. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brushed off the idea that the wet field caused the club’s three errors in four innings.
But Rojas still fumed anyway, voicing those frustrations further hours later once all nine innings were completed (and following a two-hour, 51-minute delay).
The veteran said he was chatting throughout the early innings with third-base umpire Mike Estabrook about the state of play. Rain had been falling since the start of Sunday’s rubber match, and both clubs’ upcoming schedules presented few opportunities and common off days for a makeup game should they not be able to complete nine innings. Estabrook, Rojas said, told him they were “trying to get the game in,” getting the game through at least five innings so it could be official and not have to be suspended until a later date.
“We all understand,” Rojas said. “We’ve been playing the game of baseball a long time and we understand the business side of it. We’re trying to get a game in, because we’re getting out of here and we’re not playing another game here in Chicago. We’re not trying to get just this game in. We’re trying to play 162 games, get through the season and be strong later in the year.”
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Multiple Dodgers echoed the concerns about the state of the field, saying it was “not good” and noting the puddles throughout the infield. They were miffed that, in the midst of the inning, they paused play for close to 10 minutes without a delay to apply the drying agent on the infield, interrupting reliever Gus Varland’s outing after two batters and forcing the right-hander to keep making warm-up tosses to stay loose. That drew the ire of Roberts an inning after they stopped Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga between innings to work on the mound.
“I think everyone was in agreement that we wanted to try to squeeze in five, knowing that conditions weren’t going to be ideal,” Roberts said. “I just didn’t like in that fourth inning, to stop the game right there, once we’ve already faced a couple batters. And then obviously the field sort of became unplayable.”
The delay, Rojas argued, should’ve started much earlier.
“Nobody wants to sit here for two hours and have a rain delay this long anyway, but it’s our job,” Rojas said. “We have nowhere to go. We were going to be here until like 7 p.m. anyways and we’re going to get to Minnesota tomorrow and we’re going to play another baseball game. It would’ve been the same thing. Just call the game a little earlier so they can work on the field later.”
The field appeared to be in much better shape post-delay, and the Cubs and Dodgers were able to complete the rest of the game without issue. As the Dodgers’ bus loaded for their flight to Minneapolis, rain began to fall again.
“Today was just one of those games we just want to wash,” Roberts said.
They don’t have to look far to find water.
Required reading
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
