With two starters who have struggled with keeping the ball in the park this season, it felt like we were going to see another offensive shootout, as we saw in the series against the Giants. But that certainly wasn’t the case; then it was, as the Milwaukee Brewers bats scored eight runs between the ninth and 10th innings to beat the Rockies 9-7.
Christian Yelich opened up the game by getting hit by a pitch, and with the heart of the order, it was shaping up to be a great first inning for the Crew.
Unfortunately, the rest of the inning was just foreshadowing what was to come for the rest of the game, as Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang went back-to-back with groundouts. William Contreras followed with a first-pitch popout to end the inning, stranding Yelich in scoring position.
The Rockies have been swinging the bat at a successful rate over the last week of play, and that continued in the home half of the first inning as Jake McCarthy doubled. Rockies gave the Brewers a taste of their own medicine by stealing bases and using the small ball to take an early 1-0 lead.
In his first plate appearance of the night, Jake Bauers continued to be one of the biggest consistencies in the lineup as he smashed his 11th double of the season. Following a groundout, then a walk, Luis Rengifo drove in Bauer to tie the game at 1-1 with a groundout of his own. The double by Bauers wound up being the lone hit of the evening for the Brewers as they struggled to find any success against the right-hander Ryan Feltner.
Feltner was making his second start since coming off the 15-day injured list, and boy did he look dominant. Throwing six innings of one-run ball and struck out four batters while allowing just two walks. His offense helped him get into a groove early as Edouard Julien singled to drive in a run to give the Rockies the lead at 2-1. Hunter Goodman followed up an inning later with a solo shot to make it 3-1.
Brandon Sproat continued to struggle on the mound this evening as he finished the night with three runs allowed on seven hits. He has now allowed at least three runs in each of his last five outings, and in that span he has given up four home runs. Entering tonight, the words of Pat Murphy rang through many Brewers fans’ heads, thinking the chances of Sproat being sent down were high if he had another outing like this. Though, with the injuries beginning to rack up for the pitching staff, Sproat will most likely stay with the big league club.
Following his departure, the game went into a stalemate. The injury bug was back, and it bit the Brewers yet again, as Brian Fitzpatrick, who was just called up from Triple-A, departed the game during his warm-ups entering the bottom of the seventh inning. It had appeared that it was something with his throwing arm, and it was instant. Though no official announcement has been made yet, chances are Fitzpatrick will become the fifth left-hander to land on the injured list for the Crew.
The Brewers entered the bottom of the ninth with just one hit and one run on the board, and no signs of life at the plate. That was, until Turang led off the inning with a single. It was the first of many more hits to come for the Brewers. With two on and no outs, Bauer continued his hot night at the plate as he zipped a single into the outfield to bring them within one. Then, Sal Frelick made his presence felt with an RBI double that tied the game at three. After the tying hit, Andrew Vaughn came through by driving in a pair of runs on a single to give the Brewers their first lead of the night at 5-3.
Trevor Megill came in seeking his first save opportunity since last weekend in Houston, and instead earned a blown save, his first since April 10th against the Nationals. With bases loaded and Megill’s command lacking, he walked Chad Stevens to bring the Rockies within one. Then Goodman came through again with a sacrifice flyout to send the game into extra innings.
The pesky, gritty Brewers were back and stronger than ever entering the top of the 10th inning. Back-to-back walks to lead off the inning allowed Bauers to smash his second double that drove in two runs to give them back the lead at 7-5. For good insurance, Garrett Mitchell and Frelick singled, driving in a run each, to extend the Brewers’ lead to 9-5.
Known win vulture Aaron Ashby came on in the bottom of the 10th inning to shut down the Rockies. Despite loading the bases and giving up a couple of runs, he used a game-ending double-play to lock in the come-from-behind win for the Brewers.
After a late night at the ballpark, the Brewers will be back in action tomorrow night as they will look to lock in the series win against the Rockies. Jacob Misiorowski will take the ball as he makes his first career start at Coors Field.
