The Brewers were trying to spark something in the sixth, down two runs, when Christian Yelich dropped a bunt against the shift. The pitcher fielded it but threw wide of first, pulling the first baseman off the bag. Yelich took a quick step toward second, then held up. The first base coach yelled for him to go, then immediately took it back. In the confusion, Reds first baseman Jonathan India tagged Yelich, and the ump called him out for attempting to go to second. Yelich exploded, shouting at the ump. First base coach Quintin Berry tried to calm things down, admitting he told Yelich to go, then regretted it. Still, Yelich was furious. He didn’t think he made a real attempt toward second.
The controversy came down to how the ump interpreted Yelich’s body language. The rule says runners are out if they “attempt” to advance and are tagged. But “attempt” is open to interpretation. Yelich took a hesitant step but clearly changed his mind. The ump saw enough to call him out. The Brewers’ bench disagreed, saying thinking about going isn’t the same as trying to go. The whole play unraveled fast and killed the Brewers’ chance to build a rally in a tight game.