Brewers' defensive miscues mount up in Ashby's return

CINCINNATI -- Brewers hitters made it fun late. The trouble was that defenders didn’t do enough early.

Milwaukee infielders were charged with three errors during left-hander Aaron Ashby's first appearance in the big leagues in 551 days, a significant reason he walked off the mound in an eight-run deficit in what evolved into a wild 10-8 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park.

Beyond the errors, the Brewers surrendered four stolen bases and couldn’t contain Reds speedster Elly De La Cruz, whose speed probably influenced one of the errors and certainly fueled his seventh-inning dash around the bases for an inside-the-park home run after Milwaukee center fielder Sal Frelick dove and missed the ball.

It was De La Cruz’s second home run; the first sailed 450 feet.

"I think it's really a conversation we need to have with the whole team,” catcher William Contreras said. “He's a good player, but he's not from another world. There's no need to do anything crazy. He's a good player, but we have good players here, too."

Said De La Cruz: “Milwaukee, they won a lot of games against us last year so we’ve got to beat them. We put in a lot of work and we’re ready to [go] to the World Series.”

De La Cruz and the Reds did as much as the Brewers’ shaky defense to spoil the return of Ashby, who pushed his pitch count to 82 while touching 95.3 mph with his sinker, the sort of velocity that eluded him as his rehab stalled last year.

Ashby’s changeup was so good he threw it more than the sinker. There was a lot to like, even if the line in the box score didn’t look pretty. In 3 2/3 innings, Ashby was charged with eight runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks to go with two strikeouts.

“I thought Ashby was great, I really did. I didn’t expect him to be that good,” manager Pat Murphy said. “I thought he did great and deserves to be with us again.”

Said Ashby: “I thought it was a step in the right direction, for sure.”

The trouble was the defense. When the second Reds batter of the game hit a routine bouncer to shortstop, Willy Adames’ throw was mildly high and Rhys Hoskins lost it in the seats and muffed it.

“It's a pretty helpless feeling when you can't see the baseball on the baseball field,” Hoskins said.

That miscue didn’t cost Ashby and the Brewers, but the next one did. Rookie third baseman Jose Ortiz rushed the throw on a soft grounder by De La Cruz and threw the ball away for an error that led to two unearned runs.

And in the fourth, the Reds broke the game open. First, Ortiz was charged with an error on a throw that took Hoskins into the baseball, allowing two runs to score. Ashby then surrendered an RBI double to Will Benson and a two-run double to Spencer Steer before Jeimer Candelario smashed a grounder at Hoskins that took a tough hop and got by.

It was initially ruled another error on Hoskins and was later changed to a hit.

Either way, it pushed Cincinnati’s lead to 8-0.

"The first one, I just lost up in the stands. … The other ones, I just need to make,” Hoskins said. “Joey made a heck of a play. The ball’s a little up the line, but it’s a play I’ve made many, many times before, and I’ll make many times again. Frustrating.”

The Brewers hit their way back into the game against Graham Ashcraft, making it an 8-3 game with a three-run fifth inning that included Brice Turang’s first home run of the season. Milwaukee got to a 9-6 deficit with a three-run sixth and 9-8, when Christian Yelich went the opposite way for his fourth home run through the team’s first nine games.

De La Cruz and the Reds had the last word. Frelick made a desperate dive for a sinking line drive in the bottom of the seventh and then had to retreat to the wall when the baseball bounced by him. The relay caromed off the pitcher’s mound while De La Cruz slid home.

Was that among Milwaukee’s defensive mistakes? Murphy didn’t think so.

"I've got no problem with Sal diving for that ball,” the skipper said. “Knowing who the hitter is, you rob him of a hit, that momentum, that changes [things]. He's such a good runner that he's liable to steal second anyways. … I have no problem with it."