Rays' mistakes costly in loss to Brewers

MILWAUKEE -- Sometimes, you just have to go for it, and for Jose Siri, the seventh inning of the Rays' contest Tuesday night against the Brewers was one of those times.

With his team down by three and his offense looking to shake out of a little bit of a funk, Siri smacked a double to the gap in right field against Milwaukee reliever Hoby Milner, allowing David Peralta to score and get the Rays within two runs.

Instead of holding up at second, Siri instead decided to use his speed to try and take third with the hope of making things a little easier for the next man up.

The bold attempt didn't pay off. Former Rays outfielder Hunter Renfroe fired a laser to former Rays shortstop Willy Adames, who then got the relay throw to third baseman Luis Urías just in the nick of time to catch Siri.

"I was just trying to get to third base," Siri said through interpreter Manny Navarro after the Rays’ 5-3 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday at American Family Field. "It helps the batter behind me to score me, whether it's a sac fly or [something else].

"It was a good throw, but I knew if it was a little weaker or offline, I would [have been] safe.

"I knew when I hit it into the gap, I'm fast, I've got some speed so I knew I was going to go for third. I thought a little bit that I should have stayed at second to help the lineup but I decided to go for it."

Rays manager Kevin Cash wasn't quite as on board with Siri's decision.

"Can't make those mistakes," Cash said. "Just can't make those mistakes."

Unfortunately for the Rays, that wasn't the only mistake of the night.

There was the first-inning error by opener Jimmy Yacabonis that allowed Christian Yelich, who drew a leadoff walk, to reach second base in a move that looked worse two batters later when Andrew McCutchen doubled over the wall in left-center.

An inning later, Tyrone Taylor singled to center with two outs against Ryan Yarbrough. Siri fielded the ball on the run and fired a throw home that looked like it would arrive in plenty of time to get Urías, but first baseman Ji-Man Choi cut off the throw behind the mound, and Urías scored easily to put Milwaukee up, 2-0.

"I saw [Brewers third-base coach Jason Lane] give the 'stop' sign [to Urías]," Choi said. "That's how it always works for me, I just look at the third-base coach and what sign he gives his players when I make my decision."

Cash wasn't sure if the sign was false or if Urías just ran through it.

"Their third-base coach had his arms up, so if that was intentional, that was a pretty impressive play," Cash said. "If Ji-Man recognized that, I can't fault him for that, but it looked like there might have been a play at the plate."

Yandy Díaz's game-tying two-run homer in the third provided a reset of sorts, and Yarbrough kept the game tied into the fifth before he, too, made a costly mistake.

There was a walk to Rowdy Tellez and a wild pitch that put Adames at third and ended Yarbrough's day. Ryan Thompson followed and after battling McCutchen even at 2-2, left a sinker up near the top of the zone that McCutchen lined back up the middle to give Milwaukee the lead.

"Overall, we just didn't play a good game." Cash said.