The Chicago Cubs haven’t exactly been lighting the world on fire against two underwhelming opponents to begin the 2026 season, but a close call on Wednesday sparked a series win over the Los Angeles Angels. This could have gone either way, and luckily for Cubs’ third base coach Quintin Berry, it went in their favor because it was certainly a risky decision.
The Cubs cruised to a 6-2 win, propped up by a fifth-run third inning. The rally began with a Miguel Amaya leadoff walk, and then he scored on a Nico Hoerner double that was hit to left-center field. Amaya, not known for his speed, was given the sign to race home by Berry. It was an aggressive send, considering there were no outs in the inning and the middle of the lineup was due up.
To their credit, the Angels did execute a good relay from the outfield, and the throw did beat Amaya at home. However, the Cubs catcher did a better job with his slide, as he was able to evade the tag from Travis d’Arnaud, who ended up tagging Amaya’s chest, but not before Amaya touched home plate.
The home plate ump called Amaya safe, which, in the past, you could almost guarantee that a throw beating a runner to the plate would have meant an out call, but it created even more frustration for the Angels afterward. First-year manager Kurt Suzuki asked for the play to be reviewed, but it turns out that he took too long to challenge the call.
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You can see in the video below how the ump points to his wrist, signaling that the Angels ran out of time before asking for a review. A manager gets 15 seconds to challenge a play, and Suzuki was too slow on Wednesday.
However, it ultimately may not have mattered because the replays shown on Marquee Sports Network didn’t really show any conclusive angles that would have overturned the safe call.
After that, the Cubs added four more runs against left-handed starter Yusei Kikuchi. Alex Bregman singled in Hoerner, Dansby Swanson hit a sac-fly, Matt Shaw drove in another with a single, and Pete Crow-Armstrong capped off the five-run third with another RBI-single.
Shaw had the back-breaker against Kikuchi, as the right-handed hitter fouled off five straight pitches in his at-bat, and then delivered an RBI-single on the eighth pitch with two outs.
Shaw added another RBI in the seventh inning, singling to right field that drove in Carson Kelly.
So, the Cubs wrapped their first home stand of the season with a 3-3 record. The starting pitching was great against the Angels, as Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon, and Matthew Boyd combined to give up a total of five hits and two earned runs.
A tough loss on Tuesday, but that was just going up against a very good pitcher in Jose Soriano. Looking back, the series loss against the Washington Nationals was annoying, but at the very least Boyd eased early concerns with his performance against the Angels.
After tomorrow’s day off, the Cubs will begin a six-game road trip on Friday, with a series against the Cleveland Guardians and then the Tampa Bay Rays.
