Brewers manager Craig Counsell says 'bad umpiring' led to crucial strike-three call on Christian Yelich
Christian Yelich did a good job of holding his tongue when asked about umpire Ben May’s strike zone but Craig Counsell did not mince words.
“It’s two awful calls,” the Milwaukee Brewers manager said of strike-three calls by May on Yelich in the sixth and 10th innings Monday afternoon at Miller Park. “I have to say it. It’s the magnitude of the spot; it’s the hitter. It’s bad calls. It’s bad umpiring.”
Counsell referred mostly to the strike-three call on Yelich with two on and one out in the bottom of the 10th inning of the Brewers’ tough 3-2 loss to the powerful Houston Astros. Yelich tied the game with a dramatic ninth-inning home run off tough closer Roberto Osuna and the crowd roared as he stepped to the plate with a chance to be a hero once more.
With a 1-2 count, reliever Josh James threw a high slider that replays showed was above the strike zone, only to have May call it strike three. It was nearly identical to the high slider from Houston starter Gerrit Cole that May called strike three on Yelich in the sixth inning.
Yelich did some woofing at May from the dugout after that sixth-inning strikeout, and the umpire pointed at him and told him to stop. After the strikeout in the 10th, Yelich merely turned and walked away. James then struck out Hernán Pérez to end the game -- the 20th whiff of the game for the contact-challenged Brewers.
Asked how he could hold his tongue after the 10th-inning call, Yelich said, “What’s going to happen? The only thing that’s going to happen is you’re going to get ejected. Nothing is going to change. You’re just going to get thrown out of the game and get fined. That’s all that will happen.”
Counsell had plenty to say, however.
“The first time, (Yelich) said plenty,” Counsell said. “It doesn’t do you any good, necessarily. I’d rather have Christian stay in the game, especially in that spot. We’ve still got a chance.
“It’s just bad umpiring. I don’t know how else to say it. I’m sure he missed other pitches in the game. When it’s Christian Yelich and the game is on the line, and you miss calls, it obviously hurts and dramatically changes the outcomes of games.”
BOX SCORE: Astros 3, Brewers 2 (10 innings)
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As reporters crowded around his locker after the game, Yelich said he didn’t want to say anything “that will get myself fined,” and talked around the subject as best he could.
“I mean, you guys saw it, so I’ll let you guys make your own judgments,” Yelich said. “All I’ll say is go watch it yourselves, make your own judgments, see what happens. At the end of the day, it’s not going to matter. It won’t change anything that happened. It’s just how it works.
“We have to accept it and that’s it. I’ve got to be careful with what I say, but yeah, you guys can look and form your own judgments. That’s all they’ll be, judgments.”
Yelich said the tying homer he hit in the ninth inning was an example of why he didn’t want to get tossed for arguing May’s bad strike-three call in the sixth.
“That’s why you want to stay in the game in those situations,” he said. “You may not agree with what’s taking place behind you, but you have to try and get past it because if you argue, the only thing that’s going to happen to you – the only thing that’s going to happen at all – is you’re going to get ejected.”
As for having the bat taken out of his hands in a game so meaningful to the Brewers, Yelich said, “Fairly important games right now. Yeah, I’ll leave it at that. Important games.”
And thus ended a frustrating day for the Brewers, as all of the other NL teams in the playoff hunt won their games. So, they fell four games behind the Cubs in the wild-card race and seven in back of hard-charging St. Louis in the NL Central.
The Brewers knew they were going to have their hands full with Cole, one of the best pitchers in the game, and they did. Cole allowed only three hits and one run over six innings while logging 14 strikeouts to run his season total to 266 in 176⅓ innings. The only damage the Brewers could muster came on Yasmani Grandal’s home run in the first.
It was a mixed blessing for Brewers left-hander Brent Suter, who returned to the majors for the first time since undergoing Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery on July 31 of last season. Suter gave the well used Brewers bullpen seven needed outs but also surrendered a home run to rookie Yordan Alvarez in the sixth that put Houston on top, 2-1.
Suter got a standing ovation from the home crowd upon taking the mound but regretting giving up the home run that put the Astros ahead.
“I gave myself a moment so I could feel the appreciation. The fans’ support was unbelievable right there,” Suter said. “I was holding back some emotion there. It was really special and it means a lot. It’s why the Brewers fans are the best.
“I’d like that pitch to Alvarez back but sometimes you have to tip your cap. I left the ball in the (strike) zone and he put the barrel on it. It was great competing against a team like that in my first outing since surgery.”
Even with expanded rosters, Counsell went in the 10th to Junior Guerra, who surrendered the decisive home run to the first batter he faced, George Springer. Guerra was pitching for the third day in a row and fifth time in seven days, but Counsell said he’d make the move again.
“He was going through a pretty good set of hitters,” Counsell said. “He’s the guy I wanted out there. No regrets about that at all.”
There were plenty of regrets about Ben May’s strike zone, however. When a home plate umpire is the center of post-game discussion, he has not had a good day.