Brewers Down Reds 5-2

Perhaps the popup that landed between three Reds in New York on Sunday wasn’t just the end of a lost game and a bad series.

It only proved to be just the beginning, as mistakes in the field came frequently during a 5-2 loss to Milwaukee on Monday, Cincinnati’s fourth in a row since the All-Star break ended. The loss has put the club 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Brewers in the National League Central.

“Guys are playing hard, just not playing terribly well right now,” manager Bryan Price said. “There’s not a whole lot of things we’ve done terribly well since we came back from the All-Star break, unfortunately.”

There were two official errors on the line score, but neither accounted for two very big mistakes made in left field by Chris Heisey.

“Tonight was just one of those nights where I didn’t have a very good day,” Heisey said. “It stinks, because not only does it affect the team — and playing these guys, every game is big — but it also hurts Mat [Latos]. It’s one of those things where you have to keep your head up and move on.”

A three-run third inning against Latos started when Jean Segura hit a drive to the gap in right-center. Segura didn’t stop at second base and chugged for third. He appeared to be a likely out until the relay throw from second baseman Ramon Santiago hit Segura’s foot and rolled out of play in the third-base dugout.

Segura was sent home and credited with a triple and run scored on the error.

“There are some things that if they happened slightly differently could have changed the outcome,” Price said. “But we didn’t earn a win today. We didn’t deserve to win that game.”

Brewers starter Wily Peralta dueled Latos for a 10-pitch at-bat that concluded with a single up the middle, which was followed by a Carlos Gomez single. On a flyout to center field by Scooter Gennett, Peralta surprisingly tagged up and went to third base. Had Billy Hamilton’s throw not been slightly up the line to Todd Frazier, the slow-running, late-sliding Peralta might have been out on the tag.

Next came Ryan Braun’s sharp liner to left field on an 0-2 pitch. Heisey took a couple of steps in before leaping, but the ball sailed over his glove for a two-run double and a three-run Milwaukee lead.

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