Perkins' bunt cuts Brewers' rally short in 9th

MILWAUKEE -- In the span of a few fateful moments on Friday, the Brewers went from scoring the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning against the surging Reds, to absorbing the shock of a 6-5 loss which ended meekly with a bunt popout to the pitcher.

The bunter -- with two outs and the tying and go-ahead runners in scoring position -- was center fielder Blake Perkins, the 27-year-old second-year Major Leaguer who helped the Brewers beat the Blue Jays two days earlier with the sort of small ball that has lifted Milwaukee to the top of the National League Central.

This time, it was part of their undoing, and Perkins stood at his locker and admitted, “I think I kind of let the moment get a little bit too big for me.”

“I feel really dumb,” he said, “but tomorrow’s a new day and I hope to contribute tomorrow in a better way.”

“It hurts me inside because I'm hurting for him,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “Not only for our team, but I'm hurting for him. Ill-advised decision.”

The Brewers went into the bottom of the ninth facing a 6-3 deficit after starter Freddy Peralta surrendered a career-high 10 hits along with six runs in 5 1/3 innings. But Reds defenders kept the Brewers close by having just as tough a time, committing five errors in the game, including three from shortstop Elly De La Cruz, whose bobble of a Rhys Hoskins grounder in the ninth turned a potential double play into a bases-loaded jam with no outs for Cincinnati closer Alexis Díaz.

One out later, Joey Ortiz took a run-scoring walk and Jackson Chourio followed with a single. One run scored easily and Jake Bauers, pinch-running for Hoskins, chugged around third as the tying run, sliding around the tag of Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson.

When plate umpire Will Little signaled safe, it was a 6-6 ballgame. The Reds, though, challenged the call after seeing that as Bauers reached for home plate, he contacted Stephenson’s glove first.

It was an out.

“There was a lot going on,” Stephenson said. “I tried to make the best play I could. I just got a little lucky with him sliding into the glove.”

While the umpires viewed replay, Perkins contemplated what to do next. He knew he had the top of the order behind him, Brice Turang and then William Contreras, who’d homered earlier on Friday and is Milwaukee’s most dangerous hitter.

So Perkins settled on one of his favorite plays: The bunt. Of Perkins’ first seven bunts this season, four went for hits.

Were the Reds surprised when he squared the bat?

“Yes and no,” Stephenson said. “It was actually funny. J.R. [House, Cincinnati’s third base coach], in the dugout was like, ‘Maybe,’ just because [Perkins] is somebody that will [bunt] and to get it up to Turang at the top of the order. So there was a possibility there. Díaz made a catch and didn’t panic.”

In hindsight, Perkins wished he’d taken his chances swinging the bat.

“Listen, no one is more disappointed in the outcome of the events than me,” he said. “I guess the best way to put it is I know the guys behind me are statistically better hitters. And I thought it would be a surprise to them and I thought it would be a higher-percentage for me. …

“I just was trying not to be the hero, I guess is the best way to put it, and obviously it was a mistake.”

Murphy echoed that assessment.

“I think it's a young person's moment,” Murphy said. “Obviously he regrets the decision but we've had so many young players step up this year, Perk included. So many great things he's done. Over and over, he's won games for us. Offensively, defensively and with the bunt or whatever.

“Chourio's night tonight, four times on base. Joey Ortiz walking a number times. All these young players have done so much but there are going to be these moments, these youthful moments, that make no sense. I love this kid, man. I know it's tearing him up inside worse than anyone but hey, we put ourselves in a position, like we have in most every of the 69 games we've played, with those young guys to compete right down to the end.”

The Brewers did have their chances. Thanks partly to the Reds’ foibles in the field, the Brewers piled up 16 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Only one of them was fruitful: Chourio’s run-scoring single.

“[Perkins] didn't lose the game,” Murphy said. “That decision might not have been the one anybody else might have picked right there, but we had plenty of other opportunities to score runs tonight but didn't.”