Brewers fall 7-6 to Reds after overturned double play
MILWAUKEE -- Scooter Gennett took the throw at second, turned and fired the relay to first for what he thought was a routine double play that would get the Milwaukee Brewers out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth.
The Cincinnati Reds had other ideas, and the umpires agreed after taking a look at a replay.
The double play was overturned, allowing Joey Votto to score the go-ahead run on Adam Duvall's bouncer in the Brewers' tense 7-6 loss on Saturday.
The umpires ruled after replay that Gennett had his foot off the bag during the relay, apparently by the slimmest of margins.
"I looked at the video that we had, the angle that I saw, it looked like it was close, but it looked like I was on there," Gennett said. "But I'm sure they had some other HD, `4K, 4,000 frames per millisecond video' that had my cleat coming off."
A good fielder, Gennett said it's how he's always turned double plays.
"I guess I just have to do a better job of staying on just a tick longer," he said.
The Brewers' season-high four-game winning streak came to an end. The Reds rallied from a five-run deficit to snap their 11-game losing streak.
Cincinnati scratched their way for the go-ahead run off typically tough reliever Jeremy Jeffress (1-1). The decisive review came after manager Bryan Price, who was out of challenges, spoke to crew chief Jim Joyce.
Reds video coordinator Rob Coughlan studied the replays.
"He noticed that it was just barely off, but you have to go for it," Price said.
A wild afternoon featured six hit batters and the ejection of Reds starter Alfredo Simon in the fifth for hitting counterpart Chase Anderson with a pitch.
REPLAY REDUX
Brewers manager Craig Counsell sounded frustrated about the replay rules, especially after Price had burned his two challenges in the first.
"They've basically set precedent that we should basically challenge every single call after the seventh inning, because there's nothing about that play that would suggest replay," Counsell said. "It tells you that in the seventh inning, challenge as much as you want. It doesn't matter if you're out of challenges."
Counsell said that he heard from umpires that it doesn't matter if a team is out of challenges, that they'll check anyway in situations like the one that arose in the ninth.
"We've certainly benefited from replay calls, so I'm not going to say it's one-sided, but this is the whole can of worms we've opened up by changing the rules," Counsell said.
HIT PARADE
Simon was ejected in the fifth after hitting Anderson with a pitch in the left shoulder. An inning earlier, Anderson had hit Simon with a pitch with two outs, a sequence that thwarted Tyler Holt's potential steal of home with the Reds trailing by a run. The Brewers later got out of that jam.
Counsell said there no intent when Anderson plunked Simon, who initially squared away as if to bunt. Anderson said he rushed his delivery as he saw Holt break.
"It definitely was not on purpose. I tried to rush and I slipped and the ball slipped out of my hand," Anderson said.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Reds: LHP Jon Moscot (left intercostal) will do his side work and throw a bullpen session at Triple-A Louisville before joining the team next week on the next stop of their road trip in Colorado. ... RHP Michael Lorenzen (right elbow) will make another start in an extended spring training game on Tuesday before moving his rehab to one of the Reds' minor-league affiliates.
Brewers: OF Ryan Braun got a day off from the starting lineup. He grounded into a double play as a pinch hitter in the eighth, snapping his 29-game on-base streak. ... RHP Matt Garza (right lat) will join Single-A Wisconsin for his first rehab start on Tuesday, and Counsell said the starter could return by June 14.
UP NEXT
Reds: LHP Brandon Finnegan (1-3) is coming off his first career complete game, when he allowed five hits and four walks over eight innings in a 1-0 loss on Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers and ace Clayton Kershaw.
Brewers: RHP Jimmy Nelson (4-3) has been Milwaukee's best starter over the first two months of the season with a 2.92 ERA. He has a team-high seven quality starts.
