The June sunset at Coors Field was spectacular on Friday night. So was Rockies right-hander Ryan Feltner.
But the fireworks didn’t begin until after sundown when the Brewers scored four runs in the ninth inning and four more in the 10th to shock Colorado, 9-7.
“There was some good and some bad, for sure,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “The boys kept fighting all the way to the end. They were dealing with a ton of adversity late in the game.
“It’s no secret that we have to take care of the baseball, and walks kill you, especially late in the game. We just have to tighten it up towards the end of the game. That’s all.”
Jake Bauers’ two-run double off struggling Colorado reliever Juan Mejia (6.67 ERA) was the big blow of the 10th inning, in which Rockies pitchers walked three. The Brewers won for the first time this season when trailing after eight innings. They are now 1-17 in those situations.
But give Colorado credit for getting up off the mat. Sterlin Thompson’s broken-bat, two-run single to center cut Milwaukee’s lead to 9-7, but Edouard Julien grounded into a double play and Aaron Ashby struck out Jake McCarthy to clinch the game.
Colorado seemed to have the game well in hand, especially when closer Antonio Senzatela took his 1.30 ERA on the mound in the eighth and ninth. But Senzatela melted down in the ninth and committed a critical error as the Brewers rallied for four runs to take a 5-3 lead.
Brice Turang led off the ninth with a single, though it looked harmless enough when William Contreras grounded back to the mound for a likely double play. Except that Senzatela short-hopped the ball into center field. The Brewers’ rally was on.
An RBI single by Bauers, an RBI double by Sal Frelick, and a two-run single by Andrew Vaughn compounded Senzatela’s error and put Milwaukee ahead, 5-3.
Asked if he thought Senzatela “double-clutched” on his errant throw to second base, Schaeffer answered, “That’s very un-Senza like. I think he just threw it (badly) and made an error. That’s very unlike him.”
Asked if he thought Senzatela “got flustered” after committing the error, the manager said, “Does it affect him after that? I would say no. Senza is one of the most level-headed people I have ever met in my life. So, no, he turns the page very well.”
Colorado sent the game into extra innings with two runs in the bottom of the frame when Chad Stevens drew a bases-loaded walk off of Trevor Megill and Hunter Goodman hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field.
Before the late-night craziness turned scorecards into a Rorschach test, Feltner pitched six innings of one-hit, one-run ball in what looked like it would be a quick, easy victory for Colorado. The slider continues to be Feltner’s best pitch.
“The slider has been working the last two starts, and I feel like I can go to it pretty often. … It’s definitely one of my go-to pitches, and it was on tonight,” said Feltner, who has a 0.75 ERA in his two starts since being reinstated from the injured list, where he was rehabbing a sore elbow for much of the spring.
Feltner got better as the game went along. He opened by plunking leadoff hitter Christian Yelich, but no harm came of it. Bauers led off Milwaukee’s second inning with a double, and Feltner walked two and needed 37 pitches to escape the inning. But Feltner limited the damage to an RBI groundout by Luis Rengifo and got out of big trouble by striking out Yelich on a wicked changeup with two men on.
“I thought Ryan attacked the zone very well with all of his stuff,” Schaeffer said. “In the second inning, he got into some trouble and lost his command a little bit and was about one hitter away from being removed from the game. But he came back and started pounding the zone and made a good adjustment.”
Feltner, who retired the last 13 batters he faced, walked two and struck out four. He threw 81 pitches, 51 for strikes.
Colorado backed up Feltner with timely hits early, the biggest a 411-foot home run to left by Goodman in the third. It was Goodman’s 16th homer, and he’s gone yard in three of his last four games.
McCarthy, leading off, sparked Colorado to a 1-0 lead in the first, smacking a double off Milwaukee right-hander Brandon Sproat. McCarthy stole third and scored on Tyler Freeman’s groundout to second.
Ezequiel Tovar’s leadoff double and Edouard Julien’s RBI single to left put the Rockies ahead, 3-1, in the third.
Pitching probables
Saturday: Brewers RHP Jacob Misiorowski (6-2, 1.65 ERA) at Rockies TBA, 7:10 p.m.
Sunday: Brewers LHP Shane Drohan (2-1, 2.87) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-6, 8.06), 1:10 p.m.
Monday: Off day
