Joey Votto's ejection overshadows Reds' win

PITTSBURGH - The Reds beat a budding ace, won a series and got over the .500 mark Wednesday night.

But the 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates and Mike Leake's brilliant outing were overshadowed by Joey Votto's ejection.

Other than that, it was a good night for the Reds. Leake went eight shutout innings. He allowed six singles, walked none and struck out two. He beat Gerrit Cole, who came in 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA. Leake also drove in a run with a two-out double.

Leake pitched eight-inning shutout ball in his last outing as well.

The win clinched the three-game series and put the Reds back over .500 (14-13) for the first time since April 22. Marlon Byrd hit a home run for the second straight night - his third in his past three games.

"We're playing a lot better," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "The offense is picking it up. It was great to win."

The story, of course, was Votto. He took full responsibility for his actions.

"I feel like as a Major League player, I have a responsibility to be a good example for younger players. And making contact with an umpire is unacceptable. During this entire thing, that's the one thing I feel very remorseful for. I think it was something that just crossed the line. Just because I have a verbal disagreement with someone, doesn't make it OK to have physical contact with someone. In all of this, that's the thing I regret the most and I'm not happy about it. As Major League players, we have a responsibility to keep everything. We can push the limits as much as we want but never cross that line."

Conroy called Votto out on strikes to end the Reds' third. It was actually a swinging strike on strike 3. Votto tossed his helmet down and could be seen yelling and gesturing as he walked to his position at first.

Conroy signaled the ejection when Votto was about halfway up the line. Votto did not know he had been tossed until Reds manager Bryan Price came out.

When Votto realized it, he charged in from first and went after Conroy. Price tried to hold him back, but Votto bumped Conroy.

Votto was never told why he was ejected.

"By the end of it, I was out of the game and not really certain exactly what happened," Votto said. "But my reaction was over the top. Being passionate or emphatic about something is one thing, verbally disagreeing. But I got too close and made contact with him."

That usually means a suspension. Devin Mesoraco was suspended three games — later reduced to two — for an incident with umpire Chad Fairchild in 2012.

Votto went down the tunnel toward the umpires' room after the game. Did he go to see the umpires?

"No, I went to see what it was like sitting in one of the diamond seats behind home plate," he joked.

Votto appeared to be talking to Cole before the ejection. Votto wouldn't say.

"You guys would have to go to video replay for that sort of thing," he said. "The stuff on the field I usually don't comment on."

Price thought it was a misunderstanding.

"I think so," Price said. "I saw the strikeout and I knew Joey was upset with that. I didn't see the ejection. When I found out he was ejected, the home plate umpire felt like he was saying something to him. I don't think Joey was. I think was having some back and forth with somebody on the team."

"I do think it's a misunderstanding. Unfortunately, it did blow up."

Again, bumping an umpire almost always means a suspension.

"We'll see how it plays out," Price said. "The whole situation was unfortunate - how it unfolded. There are times when players need to say they're upset. But I think Joey walked away and was ready to leave it alone. The aftermath didn't involve the home plate umpire. He misconstrued it to involve him.

"Joey shouldn't have gone down there and made contact with the umpire. We know that. This was an avoidable situation."

Is Votto bracing for a suspension?

"I don't know," he said. "It doesn't really matter at this point. The game is done. Where I'm standing right now, I feel like I need to be accountable for my actions."

It was a scoreless game at that point.

The Reds squandered a second-and-third, no-out chance in the first. That got Cole on a roll. He retired nine of 10 going into the fourth.

Todd Frazier led off the fourth with a triple. Phillips followed with a bounding cue shot down the third-base line that remarkably stayed fair. It slowly rolled all the way to the bag.

Jay Bruce grounded out to short against the Pirates' shift. The shift left third base uncovered. Phillips never stopped and beat Cole to the bag. After Kristopher Negron took a called third strike, the Pirates intentionally walked Tucker Barnhart to get to Leake — no matter that Leake had 57 more big-league hits than Barnhart.

Leake lashed a double down the left-field line. It short-hopped the wall, probably costing the Reds a run, but the Reds had a 2-0 lead.

Byrd led off the fifth with his fifth home run of the year. All five have come in Byrd's last 11 games.

Leake did not allow a hit to the outfield until Neil Walker singled up the middle with one out in the sixth. An out later, Starling Marte reached on Frazier's error. Marte stole second, making it second and third. But Leake struck out Pedro Alvarez to strand the runners.

"He was great," Price said. "You could see very early on that it was very apparent that he had command of both sides of the plate. He was just throwing the right pitch."

Leake got in more two-out trouble in the seventh. He allowed back-to-back singles to Francisco Cervelli and pinch-hitter Corey Hart. Gregory Polanco followed with a swinging bunt just up the first-base line. Leake fielded it, but his throw hit Polanco in the back. Conroy called Polanco out for running outside the baseline.

The Pirates argued, but the call was not reviewable.

Aroldis Chapman, who threw 30 pitches in a non-save situation Tuesday, pitched the ninth for his sixth save.