With just a handful of games separating the Brewers from the surging Reds, and one last head-to-head meeting before the All-Star break, this weekend¡¯s series has had all the makings of a late September push for the National League Central crown.?

And as tempers flared between players and umpires with three combined ejections (two for Milwaukee, one for Cincinnati) in the Brewers' 4-3 loss Saturday, the game was hotter than the temperatures recorded at first pitch at American Family Field.?

Both manager Craig Counsell -- ejected for arguing balls and strikes -- and Christian Yelich -- ejected for arguing whether he made a motion toward second base -- highlighted the evening affair, in which recently nominated All-Star Freddy Peralta twirled five innings of no-hit baseball before running into trouble in the sixth.

Peralta lost his no-hit bid in the sixth on an infield single by Jesse Winker.

Nick Castellanos then tagged Peralta for a three-run home run during a six-pitch at-bat in which the count ran full on a ball that just missed the lower outside corner.

¡°I thought it was a really good pitch,¡± Peralta said. ¡°I think it hit the bottom part of the line; really, really close. For me, it touched the line. [The umpire] was missing [pitches] the whole game. He was missing for both sides, too.¡±

Counsell was ejected for arguing that particular pitch when he came out to replace Peralta with reliever Brent Suter.

¡°Yeah, that was the pitch,¡± Counsell said. ¡°I feel like it's been a rough series for the umpires, so yeah, there's a lot of guys upset, both teams.¡±

In all, Peralta finished with three earned runs on two hits in five-plus innings, walking two and striking out six.

In the bottom half of the frame, Yelich was ejected for disputing what was ruled as a motion toward second base for which he was tagged out after legging out a leadoff bunt single against the shift. Reds starter Vladimir Gutierrez had fielded the ball and overthrew first base, opening up the possibility for Yelich to advance.

¡°I think we agreed to disagree about some things,¡± Yelich said of his ejection.

¡°I know I didn¡¯t turn my shoulders,¡± Yelich added. ¡°It was pretty much, in my mind, just stopping my momentum. There was no shoulder turn, in my mind, to go. I think there¡¯s a lot of things going on there. Obviously, we didn¡¯t agree on what happened. It is what it is.¡±

Second baseman Jonathan India, who made the heads-up play to tag Yelich out after backing up first base, wasn¡¯t particularly surprised about the result.

¡°I was just behind, covering in case it was a bad throw,¡± India said. ¡°I thought I saw him take one step. I was just being safe and put a tag on him. He let me and he was out. I was just playing the game.¡±

The out proved to be particularly costly for the Brewers as another newly named All-Star, Omar Narv¨¢ez, worked a one-out walk before Avisa¨ªl Garc¨ªa laced a double to left that Narv¨¢ez attempted to score on, but he was tagged out at the plate.

¡°You don't know how the inning is going to play out,¡± said Counsell, when asked about how the call against Yelich impacted the inning. ¡°It was a poor call and it cost us the baserunner.¡±

On the Reds¡¯ side, Joey Votto was ejected in the eighth inning arguing a potential check-swing, further illustrating the tense emotions that often superseded the divisional matchup.?

¡°It¡¯s part of the game,¡± Yelich said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to really speak on it too much. You guys have seen the frustrations on both sides. It¡¯s a product of the series and emotions running high.¡±

The Brewers managed to tie the game at 3 in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run home run from Tyrone Taylor, who replaced Yelich in left field. Josh Hader, who was called on in the ninth inning, permitted a leadoff home run to Eugenio Su¨¢rez, and the Brewers were unable to answer.

It marked Su¨¢rez¡¯s third career homer off Hader, the most of any hitter in the Majors against the southpaw closer.

¡°We gave ourselves a shot,¡± Counsell said. ¡°Tyrone put a great swing on the ball. Got Josh in the game and, unfortunately, Josh fell behind Su¨¢rez. And we've done a good job with Su¨¢rez this year, we've pitched him really well, I think. Unfortunately, we left one over the heart of the plate there.¡±

Saturday¡¯s loss marks back-to-back losses to the second-place Reds, who now reside five games back, with just one game left before the All-Star break.

¡°There¡¯s such a long way to go,¡± Yelich added. ¡°If we win the next four games or lose the next four games, it doesn¡¯t guarantee either side anything. There¡¯s still so much baseball to play.?

¡°We have 2 1/2 months left, so there¡¯s a long way to go. There¡¯s more to it because it¡¯s a first- and second-place team in our division. We¡¯re trying to widen our lead and they¡¯re trying to close it. But at the end of the day, we¡¯ve still got a long way to go no matter how the next four go.¡±