Missed call on pick-off play helps Crew down Phillies

PHILADELPHIA -- Kyle Kendrick shook his head in disbelief.

He simply could not believe what the replay showed.

"It's just brutal. It's horrible," he said following Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Brewers at Citizens Bank Park. "That can't happen right there. It's just frustrating. If I was out, it would be embarrassing. I wasn't."

A botched call at second base in the ninth inning helped the Brewers secure their second consecutive victory over the Phillies. Kendrick represented the tying run as he stood a few feet off second with one out in the ninth. Brewers closer Francisco Rodriguez tried to pick him off, but Kendrick dove back to the bag safely as Brewers second baseman Jean Segura failed to catch the ball.

But second-base umpire Mike Estabrook called out Kendrick for the second out. Estabrook could not see the ball roll up Kendrick's left side. Segura quickly transferred the ball into his glove, which had made the tag.

The call loomed large as Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez followed with a double off the right-field wall. Had Kendrick still been on second base he likely would have scored the tying run.

"Obviously, it was a timing play," crew chief Tom Hallion explained. "Looking at it on replay, the ball goes in the glove and comes out of the glove with Kendrick diving back in and with Segura diving back for the ball. Obviously, Mike was in the right position to make a pickoff play call like that. But the way that the play developed, the ball comes free and rolls right in Segura's bare hand and he comes up and shows him the ball.

"It's unfortunate, but it's one of those plays that if any one of us -- any umpire -- had seen the loose ball, we certainly would have come in and helped Mike out with that. The problem was that I don't think anybody saw the ball. I don't think anyone from the Phillies dugout or the Brewers dugout or Kendrick knew that the ball was on the ground."

Kendrick said even he didn't know Segura never caught the ball, which is why he never argued.

"Even if he did catch the ball I still feel like I was safe," Kendrick said. "You saw it. He didn't even catch the ball. It's brutal. That was the game. ... You never want to get picked off, but to know you were safe and were out. It ended up losing the game for us."

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel also was unaware of the missed call, saying that he couldn't see from the dugout.

Said Segura: "We got a lucky break, and that's the difference in the game. We got this guy out, and we're happy we got it."

"It's not fair," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said with a shrug and a smile. "It's not a fair game."