Brewers 3, Rockies 2: Brewers walk-off the Rockies in the bottom of the 10th to take NLDS Game 1

The Colorado Rockies dropped game one of the NLDS to the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 on a walk-off, two-out single from Mike Moustakas in the bottom of the tenth inning. Christian Yelich scored the winning run after leading off the inning with a walk against Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino.

Resilient Rockies

After starting off lethargic, the Rockies did what Rockies do and started a rally in the ninth to tie the game—against Jeremy Jeffress, one of the most dominant relievers of 2018. Pinch hitters Gerardo Parra and Matt Holliday led off with back-to-back singles. Charlie Blackmon hit a looong ball that was initially ruled a ground rule double, but upon replay was ruled foul. He followed that up with an RBI single to score Parra anyway. Nolan Arenado then hit a sacrifice fly to score Garrett Hampson, pinch running for Holliday. LeMahieu reached on an error by Orlando Arcia to load the bases, but then David Dahl hit into a fielder’s choice to cut down Blackmon at home and Trevor Story subsequently struck out on three low and away pitches to end the inning before the Rockies could do any more damage.

One bad pitch

All things considered, Antonio Senzatela had a good outing. He was shaky in the first, allowing a hit, a walk, and two wild pitches, but Ryan Braun tried to score from second base on the second of those wild pitches and was the third out by nearly 30 feet.

In the third inning, presumptive MVP favorite Christian Yelich swung at the first pitch and sent it over the wall to make it 2-0 for the Brewers. After that Senza retired eight in a row before being pulled for a pinch hitter in the top of the sixth. In all, you can’t ask much more than two runs on three hits and two walks over five innings from your fourth starter. In the end, one bad pitch made the difference.

Running too wild

The Rockies struggled to get their offense going on Thursday but the baserunning did them no favors. In both the first and sixth innings they had a runner on first with two outs — DJ LeMahieu in the first and Ryan McMahon in the sixth, both walked — and both times they were caught stealing second to end the inning.

Up Next

The Rockies need to bounce back (again) if they want to come back to Denver with a series split. Game 2 is scheduled for 2:15 pm MT Friday, the second game of a quadruple header of postseason action. Tyler Anderson will get the ball for the Rockies and old friend Jhoulys Chacin will start the game for the Brewers on three days rest (in other words, it’ll be another bullpen game).