Brewers battered quickly in loss at Rockies
DENVER (AP) -- A shaky first inning by Randy Wolf put the Milwaukee Brewers in a sizable hole for the second straight game and resulted in a loss.
Milwaukee rallied in the ninth on Tuesday and had Ryan Braun at the plate representing the go-ahead run, but fell 8-6 to the Colorado Rockies.
Carlos Gonzalez had four hits for the Rockies. Tyler Chatwood pitched six effective innings.
Eric Young Jr. homered among his three hits and Wilin Rosario also connected for Colorado, which had 15 hits for the second straight night.
Rafael Betancourt finished up a shaky ninth for his 21st save.
Martin Maldonado homered and Norichika Aoki had three hits for the Brewers, who had another late rally fall short.
Chatwood (3-2), coming off five shutout innings in San Francisco, had another strong outing. He allowed two runs -- one earned -- and four hits and struck out three.
The Rockies kept pounding Milwaukee starters. On Monday, they jumped on Mike Fiers, who gave up three runs and three hits in the first, and they repeated the formula against Wolf (3-9).
Young led off the first with a double for the second straight night, Josh Rutledge was hit with a 1-2 pitch and both runners moved up on a sacrifice by Dexter Fowler.
Gonzalez followed with a two-run single, Rosario doubled and Jordan Pacheco hit an RBI single that made it 4-0.
"I had little or no idea where the ball was going today," Wolf said. "When you're out kind of guessing where the ball's going to go, it's pretty tough to pitch."
Wolf was 2-2 with a 4.04 ERA in seven previous starts at Coors Field, but ended up allowing 10 hits and six runs in five innings.
"I've never really minded pitching here too much," Wolf said. "Tonight, I just didn't have much feel. Felt like the ball was slipping out today, and I was never able to make that adjustment."
The five innings were Wolf's fewest in six starts since the All-Star break. He has lost three straight decisions in five starts since he last won July 17. That is Wolf's only win in 19 starts since April 30.
The Brewers broke through in the third when Carlos Gomez scored on Aoki's two-out bunt single to make it 4-1. Pacheco hit an RBI single in the bottom half.
Maldonado's leadoff homer in the fifth cut the lead to 5-2.
Rosario hit a solo homer in the fifth, his 19th, and Young hit a two-run shot into the Rockies bullpen in the sixth to extend the lead to 8-2.
Braun, who has six hits in his past 42 at-bats, had chances to deliver in both the eighth and ninth. With one out and the bases loaded in the eighth, he struck out against Matt Belisle, who then struck out Aramis Ramirez to end the inning.
The Brewers trailed 8-3 when they rallied in the ninth off Rex Brothers. Three straight hits, including an RBI double by Maldonado, brought in Betancourt. He allowed run-scoring singles by pinch hitter Jonathan Lucroy and Aoki before getting Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun on fly outs to end the game.
"I've come through in a lot of situations like that, so certainly I expect to have success," Braun said. "Seems like whether you're going good or not good, there's nothing better than getting a hit in that situation. So it certainly would've been nice to come through. Got a couple chances, obviously. Didn't happen for me tonight but still feel good and hopefully in the near future, I start swinging the bat better."
The Brewers fell to 1-4 on a road trip that began in Houston and ends at Coors Field on Wednesday. And as they did against the Astros, the Brewers must win the series finale to avoid getting swept.
"You just try to stay positive," Braun said. "We're optimistic, but at the same time we're realistic about the fact that we really haven't played well. It's not a big secret or anything. We just haven't played good baseball. We haven't played consistent baseball. We haven't really deserved to win many more games than we have won."
NOTES: Brewers RHP Mark Rogers will make his scheduled start Wednesday. He stayed behind for the birth of his daughter on Monday in Arizona. ... Rockies LHP Drew Pomeranz, who was scheduled to start Wednesday, had his outing pushed back to Sunday due to soreness in his left pectoral muscle. Guillermo Moscoso, who had two previous callups with the Rockies this season, will be recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs to start Wednesday. ...The Brewers are 19-37 on the road this season.