DENVER—Rookie Juan Nicasio pitched seven strong innings and Dexter Fowler doubled, walked and scored twice in his return from a nearly month-long demotion to the minor leagues, leading the Colorado Rockies past the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 Friday night.
Mark Ellis doubled twice and Todd Helton added a pair of RBI singles to help Colorado win for the fourth time in five games.
Bouncing back from his first loss in five previous starts, Nicasio (4-2) allowed four hits, walked none and struck out four in helping Colorado handcuff the Brewers, who dropped to a 16-31 on the road. Their road winning percentage of .340 is an NL low.
Matt Lindstrom and Huston Street finished off the shutout by pitching an inning apiece.
Chris Narveson (6-6) pitched nearly as well as his counterpart in a six-inning outing, allowing five hits and three runs, but was foiled in his bid for a third consecutive winning decision. He struck out five and walked three.
Ryan Braun saw his career-best 23-game hitting streak end, hitting into a double play in his final plate appearance in the seventh inning. The 0-for-3 night also snapped a 24-game hitting streak against Colorado, the longest streak by an opposing player in the team’s 19-year history.
Fowler, a switch-hitting center fielder and leadoff man, began the season with the Rockies for a third consecutive year but struggled to fulfill his role as offensive catalyst. He was batting .238 when the Rockies sent him down to Triple-A Colorado Springs on June 20.
Recalled earlier Friday from the Rockies’ top farm club, Fowler led off the Rockies’ first with a double and then used his speed on the basepaths to score Colorado’s first run. He took third on a grounder to short and sprinted home on a wild pitch in the dirt that briefly eluded catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
Colorado made it 2-0 in the third when Ellis hit a one-out double and Helton followed with an RBI single. The two repeated the sequence in the seventh
In the fifth, Fowler, back in the leadoff spot in place of injured Carlos Gonzalez, was at it again, drawing a one-out walk and stealing second to get into scoring position before Troy Tulowitzki singled to center to drive him home.
Notes: In other roster moves prior to the game, the Rockies purchased the contract of catcher Eliezer Alfonzo from Triple-A Colorado Springs and optioned catcher Matt Pagnozzi and outfielder Cole Garner to their top farm club. … Milwaukee reliever Francisco Rodriguez, acquired in a trade with the New York Mets earlier this week, is now wearing jersey No. 57 after spending Thursday’s first game with his new team wearing No. 75. … Braun’s streak ended one shy of matching Dave May’s 24-game hitting streak in 1973, the second longest in Brewers’ history. Paul Molitor had a franchise-record 39-game hitting streak in 1987. … Gonzalez has missed eight of the last nine games since bruising his right wrist when he crashed into the wall making a catch against Kansas City on July 3.
