8/30 Valbuena: “I have to make that play”

In the seventh inning Wednesday, Darwin Barney nearly lost his bid for a National League record for consecutive error-less games. After a review, Cubs third baseman Luis Valbuena was charged with the error and OK with that.

“I feel good they gave it to me,” Valbuena said Thursday.

The official scorer originally charged Barney with a throwing error in the seventh inning, but later switched the call to a fielding error by Valbuena. Barney finished with an error-free game, No. 114 in a row for the second baseman.

“It was an easy play,” Valbuena said Thursday. “I have to catch that ball. I felt so bad.”

Valbuena apologized to Barney after the game.

“I said, ‘I’m sorry about that,’” Valbuena said. “I saw the ball and I missed it. It was a good throw.”

Barney, who has now played in an NL record 114 error-free games, originally thought he was charged with the error. He appreciated Valbuena’s gesture.

“With a guy like him, you can’t be happy he got the error,” Barney said. “He’s a really good teammate.”

– Carrie Muskat