MILWAUKEE -- The final three innings of Saturday’s Brewers game at American Family Field included:

• Three stolen bases across three pitches
• Two ejections on one play
• One big league debut

And a partridge in a pear tree?

Well, not quite. But Milwaukee's 8-5 loss to the Reds -- which guarantees Cincinnati will enter the All-Star break first in the NL Central -- had a few eventful layers to it in the back stretch.

De La Cruz’s dash
The Brewers missed Elly De La Cruz’s Major League debut last month, completing a series with the Reds one day before Cincinnati called up the electric prospect.

Milwaukee -- and a crowd of 39,124 -- got the full experience in the span of a few moments on Saturday.

Elvis Peguero hung an 0-2 slider to De La Cruz, who deposited it into left field for a go-ahead RBI single, giving the Reds a 6-5 lead. On the second pitch of the ensuing plate appearance, De La Cruz stole second. On the fourth pitch, he swiped third without a throw.

Catcher William Contreras got out of his crouch and threw the ball back to Peguero. Contreras briefly turned his back to the mound, and Peguero turned his back to the plate, walking down the mound toward second base.

By the time Peguero turned around, De La Cruz was halfway down the line. He slid in safely at home, easily beating an off-line throw.

“When I saw him walk back to the mound, he was kind of at a slow pace, and then he didn't look back over to third, so I decided there I was going to go,” De La Cruz said through an interpreter.

“It was a good baseball play by him,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We weren't aware enough all over the place -- on the field, in the dugout, everywhere.”

The momentum-shifting play came a half-inning after the Brewers loaded the bases with two outs but did not score. Christian Yelich, after a borderline check-swing call for strike one, grounded out to first base.

The Reds bullpen held the Brewers scoreless for 5 1/3 innings.

“Their bullpen had a great game,” Counsell said. “Got a big out with Yelich and the bases loaded with [reliever Lucas Sims]. So really, the story of the game was their bullpen shut us down. We couldn’t score on their bullpen.”

Uribe’s debut
Sitting in Abner Uribe’s locker after Saturday’s game was an encased baseball labeled "First MLB strikeout."

The Brewers’ No. 9 prospect was recalled before Saturday’s game. He made his big league debut in the eighth inning and struck out two batters: Tyler Stephenson on a foul tip, and Will Benson looking.

The Benson strikeout ended the eighth, and Uribe skipped off the mound and pounded his chest. He ultimately allowed one run and two hits in two innings of work.

Uribe said the ball would be going home to the Dominican Republic as a gift to his mom and dad, Basilia and Marino. It was his mom who told him as a kid that he should be a pitcher.

“It was a big battle in my house,” Uribe said through an interpreter. “Growing up, I wanted to be a shortstop. And it was my mom, who doesn't really know much about baseball, [who] told me, ‘You should pitch.’

“I guess mom's always right.”

Ejections in the ninth
Uribe’s debut was going to be memorable regardless, but what transpired in the ninth, his second inning of work, will surely stand out in his memory down the line.

Facing Cincinnati second baseman Matt McLain, Uribe was called for a balk, which brought Counsell out of the dugout for an explanation. He exchanged words with home plate umpire John Tumpane near the Brewers’ on-deck circle and while walking back toward the dugout.

Counsell then turned his back, and at that point was ejected. Counsell returned to the home plate area for further conversation with Tumpane, and meanwhile, Brewers third baseman Brian Anderson casually walked off the field. Third base umpire Ryan Blakney had ejected Anderson, who said he was asking Blakney for an explanation on the balk call and got tossed.

“I didn’t think he balked,” Counsell said. “That’s first. I asked for an explanation. I was walking away, and I got thrown out.”