DENVER -- Entering their series finale at Coors Field on Thursday, the Brewers had outscored the Rockies over the first two games, 24-3. It was more akin to the Packers routing the Broncos down the street at Mile High Stadium. It was also a welcome eruption from the lineup, especially considering the status of an injury-plagued starting rotation.
But as a reinforcement Milwaukee acquired in a trade with the Red Sox took the mound Thursday, the offense went mostly silent a day after scoring more runs (17) in a single game than it had since July 1, 2022.
In an anticlimactic 7-2 loss to Colorado, the Brewers went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and squandered a pair of bases-loaded, no-out opportunities. The only silver lining was that right-hander Quinn Priestermade a good impression in his debut with the club.
Priester gave Milwaukee five solid innings, yielding one run on five hits while walking two and striking out four after arriving via trade earlier this week in the wake of the latest blow to the rotation -- Nestor Cortes¡¯ left elbow injury.
In the end, though, the Brewers couldn¡¯t capitalize at the plate and the bullpen unraveled late, surrendering five runs in a pivotal eighth.
¡°We didn¡¯t take advantage of all the opportunities we could,¡± manager Pat Murphy said. ¡°It¡¯s not like guys aren¡¯t trying. It¡¯s just a tough day game after a night game sometimes, and you don¡¯t execute. ¡ We didn¡¯t pitch at the end, that¡¯s all there is to it.¡±
In the fateful eighth, reliever Joel Payamps entered the game to try to preserve a 2-2 tie. But the right-hander gave up a trio of difference-making doubles -- one to Ryan McMahon leading off the frame, another to Michael Toglia following a walk to Sean Bouchard, and the big blow -- a bases-clearing drive off the wall in left-center by Brenton Doyle, who drove in five of Colorado¡¯s seven runs.
Payamps¡¯ struggles certainly loomed large in this game, but the Brewers had plenty of chances to break the contest open earlier on.
In the fourth inning, Christian Yelich and William Contreras -- each of whom had homered in back-to-back games entering the day -- delivered back-to-back doubles to get Milwaukee on the board. Rockies starter Ryan Feltner walked the next two batters to load the bases with nobody out for Joey Ortiz.
On a 3-1 pitch, Ortiz scorched a line drive that came off the bat at 108 mph, but third baseman Ryan McMahon made a leaping, backhanded catch. The next two Brewers hitters, Oliver Dunn and Eric Haase, each struck out and Milwaukee settled for just the lone run.
The stark dichotomy from the prior game wasn¡¯t lost on Ortiz.
¡°It¡¯s kind of crazy how things can switch from day to day,¡± he said. ¡°And that¡¯s why you just keep playing until the last inning, because who knows? We could¡¯ve pushed some runs across and made the game longer and you never know what happens.¡±
But it didn¡¯t happen for the Brewers this time. Despite loading the bases with nobody out again in the eighth, they once again settled for a single run when pinch-hitter Isaac Collins grounded into a 6-4-3 double play before another pinch-hitter, Rhys Hoskins, struck out against left-hander Scott Alexander.
So the Brewers settled for a series win over the Rockies, their first at Coors Field since 2018. And as they hit the road for a weekend series against the D-backs in Phoenix, they can take a bit of solace in Priester¡¯s performance, which lends more hope that Milwaukee will be able to overcome the inundation of injuries among their starting pitchers.
¡°It was a good start,¡± Murphy said. ¡°I was impressed with him and he competed. He¡¯s got some work to do to be a full-time Major League pitcher and he knows that. But he did the job.¡±
The job now for the Brewers is to make the trend their friend after losing for just the second time in their last nine games.
¡°I think the bats came alive [in this series],¡± Ortiz said. ¡° ¡ Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t go our way today. But I think we¡¯re trending upwards.¡±
Sure, if Ortiz¡¯s screaming liner was a few inches closer to the line, it might have been ¡°a different game,¡± as Murphy said. But something Yelich said in the wake of the Brewers¡¯ 17-run outburst on Tuesday was just as applicable to their drought on Wednesday:
¡°It's how baseball goes, you know?¡±