SEATTLE – Matthew Boyd is one of baseball’s best pickoff artists.
So why did his pickoff try Friday night get called a balk?
The Cubs were wondering the same thing, with manager Craig Counsell in disagreement with home-plate umpire Brennan Miller to the point of getting ejected from his team’s extra-inning loss to the Mariners.
“It’s not a balk,” Counsell said after the game. “He hasn’t been called for a balk in seven years. He had one where it wasn’t a pickoff move, but he hasn’t been called for a balk in seven years.
“It’s a situation where the umpire got fooled and made up a call because he got fooled. It’s not a balk. Flat out. No other umpire is calling that a balk, hasn’t called it for seven years.”
Boyd picked 11 runners off last year, leading the major leagues and setting a new Cubs single-season franchise record. He’s got four pickoffs this season, just two off the big league lead despite missing significant time with injuries.
Indeed, Boyd has been called for just one balk since he was called for four of them in 2019, coming in 2024 with the Guardians.
“He thought that I was going to the plate, to sum things up,” Boyd said. “That’s the same move I’ve done. That’s the first time that move has been called a balk since 2019, when Joe West called it front third base.”
The balk proved costly in the fifth inning.
With the Cubs down a run – they scored three times in the first inning, but Boyd allowed four runs in the second, including three on a Cal Raleigh home run – the leadoff man reached on a throwing error by Nico Hoerner, then advanced to second on the balk.
The runner moved to third when the next hitter grounded out, and he scored on a bloop single into shallow center field.
“Any run can make a difference in a game,” Boyd said. “Obviously, I would have loved to be better, would have loved to get a strikeout after [the balk]. The ground ball was after that, then the flare dropped in. It’s unfortunate.
“It’s more the Cal homer. The other ones are going to happen, the soft contact. The Cal homer, I could have done something better with. That’s a three-run mistake.
“When the boys put up three runs in the first, it’s a tough one to swallow.”
After a stellar run of starts following his return from the injured list in late June, things have been bumpier for Boyd of late. He gave up four earned runs and a season-high nine hits to the Dodgers at the beginning of the month, then seven runs and four homers in a dud against the Cardinals last weekend before allowing four earned runs Friday.
He’s allowed eight homers in his last four starts, during which he has a 6.12 ERA.
“You always want to avoid the big damage,” Boyd said. “[Big damage is] what happened tonight in that second inning, and it’s unfortunate.”