Reds End Brewers' Win Streak, Keep Own Streak Alive Despite Questionable Umpiring
After two crushing losses, Cincinnati finally delivered a statement victory over Milwaukee.
The Cincinnati Reds narrowly avoided a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad weekend against the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
It started Friday, when Cincinnati raced to an 8-1 lead over Milwaukee following a seven-run second inning. Not only would the Brewers come back and win, but the Reds failed to record a single hit after their explosive second inning.
Things didn't get better on Saturday. The Reds took a one-run lead into the ninth inning, but an error on shortstop Elly De La Cruz allowed the Brewers to tie the game. Milwaukee went on to win in extra innings and extended its win streak to 14 straight games.
Reds nearly suffered heartbreak again Sunday
Sunday looked an awful lot like Saturday. Once again, Cincinnati took a one-run lead into the ninth, thanks in large part to All-Star starting pitcher Andrew Abbott tossing seven scoreless innings.
Cincinnati Reds All-Star Andrew Abbott tossed seven scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
(Katie Stratman/Imagn Images)
But closer Emilio Pagan – who was saddled with a blown save on Saturday even though the run against him was unearned – blew another save. This time, he couldn't blame poor Cincinnati defense.
Pagan walked the leadoff hitter before retiring the next batter. However, he made a massive mistake against William Contreras, who promptly deposited the first pitch he saw into the left-field stands for a go-ahead two-run homer.
Pagan retired the next two batters to bring Cincinnati to the plate, trailing by a run. The Redlegs showed some incredible grit, plating the game-tying run before an extremely questionable at-bat for third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes.
Did the Umpire Bet on the Brewers?
Hayes got ahead 2-1 in the count after Cincinnati not only tied the game, but put runners on second and third. The runner on third, obviously, representing the game-winning run.
The third pitch to Hayes wasn't even close to the strike zone, but home plate umpire Mike Estabrook called it a strike anyway. Seriously, the pitch wasn't even close. Then, Estabrook rang Hayes up on a second questionable call a couple pitches later. Reds fans lost their minds on social media.
Cincinnati ultimately failed to plate the game-winner following the Hayes strikeout and the contest headed into extra innings for the second straight day. This time, though, the Reds kept the Brewers off the scoreboard in the top of the 10th.
And after battling through another blown save, and some terrible calls by the home plate umpire, Cincinnati finally came through with the clutch hit.
One streak ended, the other continued
There were two streaks on the line heading into Sunday's game. The Milwaukee Brewers had won 14 straight games. The Cincinnati Reds were the only team in the MLB that hadn't been swept in a series all season. One of those streaks had to come to an end. Fortunately for the Reds, they defeated the Brewers to avoid a sweep and handed Milwaukee its first loss since July.
A truly outrageous weekend at Great American Ballpark nearly ended in complete disaster, but the Reds managed to win a very important game to keep themselves firmly in the National League Wild Card picture.