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Maddon fuming at fan-interference call after Cubs loss

Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon was not happy with the umpires during Sunday's loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

With the Cubs down 3-0 in the third inning and runners at second and third base, a ball off the bat of Anthony Rizzo was turned into the final out of the inning when a fan disrupted left fielder Phillip Ervin while he was trying to make a catch near the stands.

After the on-field call was initially ruled a foul ball, a video review determined the fan interfered and Rizzo was called out.

"You know what I would like you to do? Call New York," Maddon said after the game, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "Because I'm tired of getting fined, quite frankly. I want my grandkids to go to college. Every time I make a comment on umpires, I get fined. I prefer that you call New York and ask them. Please do. Please do. Because I want to hear what they have to say. It was just way too ambiguous to be overturned for me."

The overturned call ended a possible rally for the Cubs, which also did not sit well with Rizzo.

"In real time, the guy is going at a wall," the first baseman explained. "He could make the catch, right? Our left fielder just missed a routine fly ball, though. Could he have made the catch? Yes. Could he have run into the wall first? Real time, they call no fan interference. They go to replay, slow-motion replay, it gets overturned.

"It's a weird play and sucks."

Maddon has let his voice be heard more than once this season regarding a number of topics.

He recently called umpire CB Bucknor's strike zone "offensive," protested the delivery of closer Sean Doolittle during a game against the Washington Nationals in May, and lobbied for electronic monitoring after he argued last April that umpires should not be making calls on check swings.

The Cubs wound up losing to the Reds 8-6, ending June in a tie with the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL Central lead.

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