Lovullo Apologizes to Counsell, Cubs After MLB Rules Clarification

Torey Lovullo reached out to Craig Counsell and the Cubs organization with an apology after MLB stepped in to clarify the rules situation that had produced a heated exchange between the two managers, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com.

The specifics of the disputed play or rule were not detailed in the report, but the sequence is clear enough: something happened on the field, Lovullo and Counsell got loud about it, MLB subsequently clarified how the rule actually applied, and Lovullo — finding himself on the wrong side of that clarification — did the thing managers rarely do and said so.

What we don't know yet

The report does not specify what rule was at issue, what the clarification said, or whether any formal league action accompanied it. Counsell's response to the apology is also not noted.

The backdrop

The apology lands in the middle of a genuinely tense series between two clubs with something to play for. A Diamondbacks rookie's pinch-hit walk-off home run pulled Arizona within one game of the final NL wild-card spot, and the Cubs were on the other end of that result. The series has already generated its share of storylines — including the Diamondbacks acknowledging that starter Merrill Kelly had been tipping pitches, a tell that Cubs third-base coach Quintin Berry had been reading legally.

Lovullo's apology doesn't resolve any of that ambient friction, but it does close one specific loop — and in a pennant-race August, that's probably worth something.