ABS woes overshadow Ballesteros' slam as Cubs drop opener

SAN DIEGO – After pulling a fastball inside to Ramón Laureano in the first inning on Monday night, Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd walked off the mound and tapped the top of his head. The veteran pitcher immediately knew it was a mistake.

Boyd mouthed, “My bad,” and patted his chest as an apology to catcher Moisés Ballesteros as the pitch was confirmed as a ball. It was a small moment that could have been insignificant, but it wound up playing a role in the Cubs’ 9-7 loss to the Padres in the opener of a three-game set at Petco Park.

“Instantaneously, I saw it and as it sunk in, I regretted it,” Boyd said. “I told myself I wasn’t going to challenge this year at all. That’s a non-leverage situation.”

The majestic grand slam that Ballesteros launched off Randy Vásquez in the third inning – one complete with an emphatic bat flip – could have been the story. It was the rookie’s first career slam and it came in his first start behind the plate this year, continuing his torrid start to this season (.387 average and 1.145 OPS in 25 games) and giving the North Siders a 5-3 lead.

A series of missteps overshadowed his milestone moment, along with the Cubs ending Mason Miller’s Padres-record scoreless streak at 34 2/3 innings with a two-run rally in the ninth.

“We just didn’t pitch well enough tonight,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We just didn’t get enough done.”

The first domino was the errant first-inning challenge by Boyd. The pitch in question was a 2-1 heater that was shown to be 0.7 inches off the edge of the zone, per the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System. Boyd then missed with another fastball to issue a leadoff walk to Laureano.

Boyd said it was not a case of trying to ask Ballesteros if they should challenge the pitch. The veteran pitcher was just caught up in the moment.

“You never know how it’s going to shake out,” Boyd said. “But it’s putting our hitters and our team in a hole when you do something like that in that situation, so early in the game. It was not a smart move on my part. I regretted it. I’ll do my best to not make that mistake again.”

Ballesteros was surprised, too.

“Yeah, that guy, he never challenges,” said the catcher. “He knows the zone. He knows what pitch is a strike and what pitch is not a strike. But probably [with] the emotion in that situation, he called a challenge.”

Boyd added that part of his regret was that he has such trust in Ballesteros – well-versed in the ABS from his time at Triple-A Iowa – to pick the right pitches and moments to use the allotted challenges.

“Bally really knows the zone,” Boyd said. “It’s another reason why I was like, ‘Damn, I wish I didn’t do that,’ because if it’s close, he would know, too. Bally’s awesome, man. He’s doing great back there.”

Two batters later, Boyd surrendered a run-scoring single to Jackson Merrill. The lefty later walked Miguel Andujar before giving up a two-run double to Ty France that capped off a three-run push for the Padres in that opening frame. It was similar to Sunday, when two uncharacteristic walks by Shota Imanaga in the first led to a three-run rally by the Dodgers.

“The two walks just hurt. It’s something we can’t do,” Counsell said.

Boyd’s mistake factored into things, because Ballesteros also later missed on a challenge (an 0-1 ball ruling against Andujar in the third), which left the Cubs with zero remaining. That eventually impacted Cubs righty Ben Brown.

After Boyd yielded a leadoff double to Manny Machado in the fifth, Brown took over and recorded two quick outs. He then had France in a 2-2 count before firing a sinker that started outside, then veered sharply over the outside corner. It had the makings of an inning-ending strikeout, but was deemed a ball.

Brown put his hands over his head in frustration, the count ran full and his next sinker missed low for a walk. Nick Castellanos followed with a two-run single that put the Cubs in a 6-5 hole and sent them on their way to the loss column.

“That first inning was the difference-maker,” Boyd said. “A few misses. A few walks. And that led to three runs. Hits are going to happen, but I was missing with the fastball earlier on in that first inning. It’s a big difference in the game.”