Rays 8, Brewers 4
W: Niemann (2-4) L: Narveson (4-5)
Umpire Bob Davidson can not come to Milwaukee without ejecting someone. Last year he tossed a Milwaukee fan sitting in the front row and tonight he tossed two of the coaches.
Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke got his first ejection as a Brewer. Unfortunately, that did not inspire the Brewers to play any better.
Nyjer Morgan was hit on the left arm by a fastball from Tampa Bay Ray's starting pitcher Jeff Niemann. As he headed for first base, Bob Davidson called him back claiming that Morgan stepped into the pitch. As Nyjer stepped into the home plate umpire's face, Roenicke squeezed in between them defending his batter. Replays showed Morgan attempting to turn away from the ball with no apparent intentions of ever stepping into it. It was obvious that Davidson made the wrong call. Fox Sports Wisconsin commentators Brian Anderson and Bill Schroeder went ballistic and could not believe what they had just witnessed.
"Talk about looking for something that isn't there," said Anderson. "That is just a blatant bad call," chimed in Schroeder.
Roenicke kept his cool for the most part and play continued. With a full count, Morgan swung at ball four as the boo birds came down hard on Davidson. To his credit Nyjer walked back to the dugout clearly holding all of the frustration inside him, the same could not be said about his hitting coach. Dale Sveum screamed and pointed at Davidson from the top of the dugout, which did not last long as he was ejected in seconds. Ron Roenicke came flying out of the bench area and got up in Davidson's face. He said his part and was ejected within minutes.
The fans came to his defense with loud cheers in hopes that the game was going to be turned around. Considering the Rays had a 1-0 lead, it was not farfetched to think the momentum was in favor of the Brewers.
One out with the bases loaded, Kotsay and Betancourt both failed to bring home a run. The Rays got out of the jam and all hope seemed to be lost. The game went down hill fast as Narveson struggled in the seventh inning giving up two more earned runs.
Brewers reliever Mark DiFelice gave up a three-run homer in the eighth, making him the second pitcher to be called up from AAA Nashville in the last week to have an unsettling ERA. He has a 9.00 ERA in 1.0 innings pitched. Casey McGehee and Prince Fielder both had errors. Jonathan Lucroy sent a solo shot to deep center field for his first home-run in June.
"The biggest thing that bothers me is the inconsistency of this ball club," said Roenicke before the game. "Our pitchers and our offense are both so inconsistent. I know that the home runs come and go which will give you a little inconsistency on offense, but the overall inconsistency is our problem."
That makes two of us Mr. Manager.
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