DENVER – Welcome to Coors Field, where the games are more restless than a newborn, more chaotic than a caffeinated bull and all logic vanishes into thin air – literally.
On a night when the Milwaukee Brewers had one hit through eight innings, they won, 9-7, in a 10-inning affair that was maybe the team’s grittiest game of the season and certainly their zaniest.
And it was nearly, on multiple occasions, one of their worst losses, too.
The Brewers, in what first baseman Jake Bauers called a “sleepwalking” performance, crawled into the ninth with their worst offensive performance of the year, three outs away from becoming only the ninth team since the ballpark opened in 1995 to be held to one or zero hits.
BOX SCORE: Brewers 9, Rockies 7 (10 innings)
They picked themselves up off the mats, however, found some oxygen and, mostly through ground balls that found holes, breathed life into the series opener against the Colorado Rockies. Then they almost blew it. Twice.
Because of course they did; this is Coors.
Let’s revisit the events from the Mile High Madhouse.
Nearly no-hit at Coors
Had it not been for Bauers’ ringing double, part of a three-hit night for him, in the second, the Rockies would have been on the precipice of their first-ever no-hitter at Coors entering the ninth.
Aside from a 37-pitch second inning against starter Ryan Feltner, the Brewers at-bats were, to be frank, abysmal.
“It was a weird vibe for eight innings,” Bauers said. “It didn’t feel like us. I don’t know if we were sleepwalking after the flight yesterday, time change, altitude, whatever you want to say. We were sleepwalking a little out there.
“We let [Feltner] off the hook quite a bit. We weren’t having good at-bats for the majority of the night.”
Feltner needed only 44 pitches to cover his other five innings and retired the final 13 Brewers hitters he faced, getting ground ball after ground ball pounded straight into the ground.
“What we did in the first eight innings was not typical,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Hats off to their pitchers. Feltner was fabulous… It was one of those days where you’re shaking your head. Not having quality at-bats. The Coors Field, ‘Hey 3-1 I’m going to get something, maybe I can [hit it]’ [it] felt like that mentality.”
The top of the order did nothing
The Brewers scored nine runs and got… one hit from their Nos. 1-4 hitters. In 18 at-bats.
That one hit proved vital. It was a cue-shot single by Brice Turang to lead off the ninth, which set in motion a four-run rally to go from lifeless to on top.
Antonio Senzatela throws it away
The Brewers’ rally, in all honesty, never should have happened.
Right after Turang reached, William Contreras tapped a ball back to the mound, where Antonio Senzatela fielded it with ease, turned and threw to second. It was a perfect set-up for a double play, but with one qualm for the Rockies: He chucked it into center field.
That sparked a four-run outburst from the Brewers, with Bauers providing an RBI single, Sal Frelick tying the game with a hustle double on a hard-hit grounder through the middle of the infield and Andrew Vaughn’s dribbler sneaking through for two more runs.
Craig Yoho is the most successful pitcher
Fresh up from Class AAA Nashville, it was right-hander Craig Yoho – and not Trevor Megill or Aaron Ashby – who was the Brewers’ best pitcher.
Yoho stepped up and worked two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. And not only did he perform, but did so on short notice, having to enter without being fully warmed up when Brian Fitzpatrick left the game with an elbow injury.
A defensive miscue
Bauers and Trevor Megill stared at each other and froze. It was at that point in the bottom of the ninth that the good vibes from the Brewers’ comeback in the top half dissipated.
Leading off the inning, Sterlin Thompson pounded a ball to the right side of the infield. It was hit in Turang’s direction, but Bauers initially broke toward it before realizing the error of his ways.
As Bauers sprinted to cover the base, he heard Megill shouting and stopped.
“I was just telling him, ‘You got it, you got it,’” Megill said. “Not supposed to do that is the general consensus between the pitcher and first basemen. Either he gets it or I get it. Poor communication by my end. Looked at each other and kind of in no man’s land between the two of us.”
Bauers took equal blame for the mishap.
“Off the bat I’m thinking I have a chance to go get it,” he said. “It ended up being a bad read. That’s ultimately what led to the result of the play. It wasn’t for lack of effort, I guess I would say. At the end of the day it’s a bad read off the bat by me. Just got to get to first base and get the out.”
Megill walks… who?
Chad Stevens entered the day 1 for 20 at the dish. In his career, he is slugging .091.
Yet with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, Megill walked him to bring in the first run of the inning for the Rockies.
It could have ultimately been much worse for Megill, who escaped with the game tied by getting all-star catcher to hit a sacrifice fly and then inducing a lazy fly to left.
Aaron Ashby loses command, then finds it
After the Brewers put up another four spot in the 10th, highlighted by a Bauers two-run double and RBI singles by Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick, their best reliever nearly gave it back.
Within six pitches, Ashby had already brought the tying run to the plate by plunking one batter and walking another. When Thompson’s broken-bat flare touched grass and plated two, the tying run was up with nobody out.
“It’s basically to throw strikes early, which I didn’t do,” Ashby said. “That’s the mindset. I have this mindset of I need to finish everything gloveside down. That’s what I was trying to do. First pitches, I was convicted down and in because that was the sightline that was working in the bullpen before.”
It could have been the worst loss in recent memory for the Brewers.
Instead, Ashby finally hit that spot with a sinker to Brett Sullivan, who pounded a double play grounder to Turang.
The Brewers southpaw then struck out Jake McCarthy to bring to an end the absolute goat rodeo.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Insanity took place in Brewers-Rockies. Let’s break it all down.
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
