Reds 4, Brewers 3: Cincy draws another game closer in contentious game marred by disputes with umpires - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

At times, it seemed the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers did more battling with the umpires than each other but it was the visitors who were able to laugh it off in the end.

In a dispute-filled game in which Brewers manager Craig Counsell and leftfielder Christian Yelich were ejected as was Cincinnati's Joey Votto, the Reds struck on a ninth-inning home run by Eugenio Suarez off Josh Hader to take a 4-3 victory at American Family Field.

Hader had not allowed a home run all season until Wednesday in New York, when he blew a save in the first game of a doubleheader on a blast by Jose Peraza, a former Reds infielder. Suarez led off the ninth by sending a 2-0 fastball the other way and out to right for his 18th homer of an all-or-nothing (.176 batting average) season.

With their second consecutive victory after losing the series opener, the Reds pulled within five games of the first-place Brewers in the National League Central Division. They have a chance to draw closer when the teams meet Sunday in the final game before the all-star break, with three more games looming against each other in Cincinnati afterward.

More: Catcher Omar Narváez is added to NL all-star team, giving Brewers five representatives on that roster

More: Haudricourt: Brewers not only survived but have thrived during busy schedule entering the All-Star break

Box score: https://jsonline.sportsdirectinc.com/baseball/mlb-boxscores.aspx?page=/data/MLB/results/20

The umpiring crew built up ill will on both sides in the first two games because of the erratic ball-strike calls of Brian O’Nora and crew chief Doug Eddings. The general belief was that O’Nora’s strike zone hurt the Reds in the opener and Eddings’ calls worked against the Brewers in the second game.

 "I feel like it's been a rough series for the umpires," Counsell said. "So, yeah, there's a lot of guys upset (on) both teams."

The Brewers’ discord with the umpires reached a crescendo in the sixth inning, which began with starter Freddy Peralta holding a 1-0 lead and having allowed no hits. Peralta nicked the first batter, Jonathan India, who left his elbow out to take the glancing blow.

Jesse Winker then beat the Brewers infield shift by bouncing a grounder through the vacated left side for Cincinnati’s first hit. Peralta thought he had Nick Castellanos struck out on a 2-2 slider that replays show might have been the perfect pitch, just catching the bottom, outside corner but umpire Gabe Morales called it ball three.

Peralta then hung a slider down the middle and Castellanos knocked it out to left for his 18th homer and a 3-1 lead. Counsell came to get Peralta, whose pitch count had risen to 92, and on his way back to the dugout let Morales know what he thought of the 2-2 slider that was called a ball and was ejected for his trouble.

"Freddy was really good tonight," Counsell said. "He was brilliant through five innings, but the (Mike) Freeman at-bat that extended the fifth (with a walk), that kind of changed who led off that inning was a big spot.

"He just barely nicks India with the curveball and then that kind of got that inning started. He still made good pitches to Castellanos, made the right pitches, made perfect pitches to Castellanos. But, you know Castellanos did a nice job." 

In the bottom of the inning, Yelich tried to foil the Reds’ infield shift with a bunt to the left side of the mound. Pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez fielded it and threw wildly past first base as Yelich ran past, made a slight flinch with his left shoulder but pulled up and kept his feet on the base line, making no turn toward second.

Reds second baseman India figured he’d give it a shot and tagged Yelich, and it paid off when first base umpire John Libka called him out. An irate Yelich got in Libka’s face and let him know what he thought of the call, getting ejected from the game.

"I think we agreed to disagree about some things," Yelich said coyly after the game. "I’m sure you have seen it and formed your own conclusions. I don’t really want to speak on it too much.

"I know I didn’t turn my shoulders. It was pretty much, in my mind, just stopping my momentum. There was no shoulder turn, in my mind, to go. I think there’s a lot of things going on there. Obviously, we didn’t agree on what happened. It is what it is.

"It’s part of the game. I don’t want to really speak on it too much. You guys have seen the frustrations on both sides. It’s a product of the series and emotions running high."

Later that inning, the Brewers had a shot to cut into Cincinnati’s lead when Omar Narváez tried to score from first base on Avisaíl Garcia’s double into the left-field corner. The Reds made a perfect relay, however, with shortstop Mike Freeman’s strong throw getting Narváez at the plate.

The discord with the umpires did not end that inning, however, with the Reds getting their turn. With two on and one out in the eighth, Joey Votto thought he checked his swing on a two-strike pitch but on appeal Eddings, umpiring third, called him out. Votto gestured his disdain with the call, Eddings told him to stop and when he didn’t, the Reds’ first baseman got the thumb as well.

The player who replaced Yelich after he was ejected, Tyrone Taylor, drew the Brewers even with a two-run homer in the eighth with one down off reliever Brad Brach. Luis Urías drew a walk ahead of the blast to left, Taylor’s seventh of the season.

The Brewers did something in the first inning they couldn’t do for an entire game Friday night – score a run. It started with leadoff hitter Urías getting drilled on the left elbow by a fastball from Gutierrez.

After Urías stole second with two down, Narváez accidentally beat the infield shift with a check-swing roller down the third-base line for an infield hit, leaving runners on the corners. García followed with another well-placed hit – a pop fly to the right side that got over first baseman Votto, who was holding the runner, dropping in for an RBI single.

Peralta retired the first seven hitters before hitting Freeman with a pitch with one down in the third. After Gutierrez failed to get a bunt down, striking out, Freeman stole second but was stranded when India bounced out to third.

RECORD

Overall: 53-38

Home: 27-20

Away: 26-18

ATTENDANCE

32,034

COMING UP

Sunday: Reds at Brewers, 1:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Brandon Woodruff (7-4, 2.10) vs. Cincinnati RHP Luis Castillo (3-10, 4.81). TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.

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2021-07-11 02:53:36Z
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