Brewers angered by another controversial call in loss to Rays

For the second straight day, the Milwaukee Brewers left the ballpark feeling robbed.

Milwaukee appeared to have tied Monday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays in the ninth inning when Sal Frelick scampered home on a Jason Adam wild pitch. However, home plate umpire Ryan Additon sent Frelick back to third and called Jake Bauers out for backswing interference because the hitter's bat hit Rays catcher René Pinto's head.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy was ejected after pleading his case, and his team lost 1-0.

"We deserve to at least be still playing right now," Murphy said postgame, according to Steve Megargee of The Associated Press.

On Sunday, umpires acknowledged that they missed an interference call on New York Yankees star Aaron Judge during a tie game against Milwaukee, a play that opened the floodgates in an eventual 15-5 Yankees win.

Murphy's anger boiled over Monday, as he said umpires misread the backswing interference ruling.

"I'm not a rules expert, but the rule says that if, on the swing on the third strike, the backswing interferes with the catcher catching the ball, you can call interference," Murphy said, according to Curt Hogg and Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

"That backswing happened after the ball was already past him. So, in my opinion, that's a bad call. They made a mistake, and they changed the game. I'm not going to act like I know everything, but that's what it says in the rule book."

Crew chief Chris Guccione, who was working first base Monday, defended his colleague's ruling.

"I know Murphy's argument was the catcher had to go (forward) and try to get the ball. It doesn't really apply in this case," Guccione said, per Hogg and Rosiak. "Backswing is backswing, and that's what we have to enforce. We watched the video, it was clearly backswing interference. I could hear it from first base. That rule that they're citing is something that does not apply in this situation."

Monday's result marked Milwaukee's third straight defeat and dropped the club out of first place in the NL Central.