“It didn’t pick it up,” Pages said.
“I think it was a strike,” Pages quipped. “I still think it was a strike, but we didn’t lose the challenge. We didn’t do anything. We couldn’t even see the pitch afterwards.”
From behind the plate, Pages had a similar experience to his teammates.
On the very next pitch after the challenge that never happened, Happ fouled off a pitch from Soriano that sailed into the upper deck seats down the left field line. Pages stood up from his crouch and removed his mask upon contact but clearly could not find the ball as it soared into foul territory and he remained standing with his hands raised in confusion.
“Anything that went up in the air, we pretty much kind of prayed we could see it, but we couldn’t,” he said.
Happ grounded out to Winn on the next pitch to send the game into the seventh, which began after a 15-minute fog delay following conversations between the umpiring crew, Marmol and Cubs manager Craig Counsell
“Thankfully we got two Ks right there and then also a ground ball, because you can see those,” Pages said.
Before the fog got as thick as it did during the sixth, there was also trouble tracking the ball in the fifth inning, when the Cubs threatened against Leahy.
Leahy allowed a leadoff single to Michael Conforto and hit Crow-Armstrong with a pitch two batters later. The hit by pitch put two runners on with two outs for Alex Bregman. Bregman took a sinker for a ball and then offered at a sinker near the bottom of the strike zone. The Cubs’ third baseman skied Leahy’s sinker into foul territory near the Cardinals’ dugout that Burleson charged in and made a catch on.
