The Milwaukee Brewers suffered a 1-0 shutout loss Monday night against the Tampa Bay Rays and their manager got ejected in the ninth inning, when he tried arguing a batter’s interference call made by the home plate umpire. Well, apparently Pat Murphy nor a lot of Brewers fans know the rules because as much as we all love to rag on the umps, Ryan Additon actually made the correct call.
Jake Bauers was at the plate with one out and runners at second and third in the ninth inning after the Brewers executed a double steal to get the tying and winning runs in scoring position against Tampa Bay reliever Jason Adam. On the 1-2 pitch, Adam unleashed one of his devastating sliders that Bauers whiffed on. The ball got away from Rays catcher Rene Pinto and the Brewers thought they had just tied the game on a wild pitch.
But, hold up, one other thing happened on the play. Bauers’ backswing clipped Pinto on the head and guess what that means, batter’s interference. I mean, I get it, terrible luck that Bauers just so happened to hit the catcher, but guess what Brewers fans, you’re not always going to get the breaks to go your way. Maybe don’t swing at a ball nowhere near the plate.
Murphy was angry, came out of the dugout, tried to argue and was promptly ejected from the game.
Murphy was adamant that the umps got it wrong following the game.
“I believe they got it wrong, but there was no question in their mind that they got it right,” Murphy said.
Crew chief Chris Guccione talked about the play after the game to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and clearly stated why Murphy and the Brewers were wrong. Simply put, Murphy was arguing about the wrong rule.
Via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“In this situation, it was swinging strike 3,” Guccione said from the umpire’s room following the game. “The ball got away from the catcher, but on the batter’s backswing, hit the catcher in the helmet. At that point, once the play is over, the ball is then dead. Because in that case, the catcher still has an opportunity to make a play on the ball if the guy was stealing or if he had been there and gotten the guy out at the plate. So we leave the ball in play until everything is done. And then at that point, you have to enforce the backswing interference.
“So in this case, it was a third strike to Bauers and all runners go back to the original base at the time of the pitch. That’s the rule. In the official baseball rules, it’s 6.03a(3) and (4).”
Sucks to suck, Brewers.
Milwaukee has now lost three games in a row and five of their last eight. The Brewers have been outscored 31-8 during their three-game skid and guess who’s atop the NL Central entering Tuesday’s action.
The Cubs and Brewers will play each other for the first time this weekend at Wrigley Field.
