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Ryan Feltner shines, but Rockies fall 9-7 to Brewers in extras

The margin against the Brewers was thin Friday night, and the final innings showed why.

The Rockies had a 3-1 lead, had allowed one hit through eight innings and were three outs away from taking the opener against the first-place Brewers.

They still lost.

Colorado fell 9-7 in 10 innings Friday night at Coors Field, dropping to 24-40 while Milwaukee improved to 38-23. The Rockies got one of Ryan Feltner’s best starts of the season, early offense against Brandon Sproat and Hunter Goodman’s 16th home run, but went scoreless from the fourth through the eighth before the game turned late.

Milwaukee scored four runs in the ninth to take a 5-3 lead. Colorado answered with two runs in the bottom half to force extras, but the Brewers came back with four more in the 10th. The Rockies scored twice in the bottom of the inning before the comeback ended.

Feltner settles in after high-pitch second inning

Ryan Feltner looked sharp Friday, giving the Rockies six innings of one-run baseball against a first-place Brewers lineup. He allowed one hit, walked two, struck out four and needed 81 pitches. The outing lowered his season ERA to 4.22.

Feltner hit Christian Yelich to open the game, but the only real trouble came in the second inning. Jake Bauers led off with a double, and Milwaukee used a walk, two stolen bases and Luis Rengifo’s soft groundout to tie the game. David Hamilton followed with another walk and a stolen base, giving the Brewers two runners in scoring position with Yelich at the plate.

Feltner ended the inning with one of the game’s biggest pitches: an 86.8 mph changeup for a swinging strikeout. The pitch stranded both runners and kept the game tied at 1-1.

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From there, Feltner controlled the game. He did not allow another baserunner after Hamilton’s walk, retired his final 13 batters and finished the sixth at 81 pitches.

The command was a big part of it, the second inning aside. Feltner threw 56% of his pitches in the zone and finished with a 63% strike rate, using the full mix without letting Milwaukee back into counts after the second.

The pitch data backed up the line. Feltner used six pitches, led by 27 sliders, 23 four-seam fastballs and 17 changeups. The changeup produced three of his four strikeouts and four whiffs on seven swings. His four-seam fastball averaged 94.5 mph and topped out at 97.4 mph.

Rockies get to Sproat early, but fail to add on

Brandon Sproat brought plenty of velocity, but the Rockies built their lead by scoring in each of the first three innings against him.

Sproat allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings, walking two and striking out two on 87 pitches. His ERA rose to 6.17.

Jake McCarthy opened the bottom of the first with a double, stole third and scored on Tyler Freeman’s RBI groundout. McCarthy, who entered the game hitting .289 with an .805 OPS, finished 2-for-6 with a double, a run scored and a stolen base.

The Rockies answered Milwaukee’s second-inning run with one of their better offensive sequences. Ezequiel Tovar hit a 103 mph ground-rule double, Sterlin Thompson moved him to third after an eight-pitch at-bat, and Edouard Julien lined a single to left to put Colorado back in front.

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McCarthy followed with a 101.4 mph single to right, prompting a mound visit before Freeman ended the inning with a flyout.

Goodman added the Rockies’ final early run in the third. After falling behind 1-2 and working the count full, he got an 81.5 mph curveball and drove it to left field for his 16th home run of the season. The ball left his bat at 106.4 mph and traveled 411 feet, giving Colorado a 3-1 lead.

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Goodman, who entered the game hitting .245 with an .831 OPS, finished 1-for-3 with a homer, a walk, a stolen base and two RBI. Thompson went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI, while Tovar and Willi Castro also doubled.

Sproat averaged 95.9 mph with his four-seam fastball and 96.1 mph with his sinker, topping out at 97.8 mph. He used six pitches, led by 24 four-seam fastballs, 20 cutters, 17 changeups and 13 curveballs.

The Rockies finished with seven hits against Sproat, including four extra-base hits. Sproat generated six whiffs on 42 swings, finished with a 59% strike rate and threw 44% of his pitches in the zone.

Ninth inning undoes strong pitching stretch

The Rockies were in good shape after Ryan Feltner exited. Jaden Hill handled the seventh, working around a two-out walk with a strikeout and a forceout.

Senzatela struck out David Hamilton, Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio in order in the eighth, pushing Colorado within three outs of a win. He entered the ninth with a 1.26 ERA, but the inning changed quickly.

Milwaukee opened the ninth with a single, then reached again on a comebacker and a throwing error by Senzatela. Instead of recording at least one out, the Brewers had runners at the corners with nobody out.

Jake Bauers followed with a 111.8 mph RBI single to center to cut the lead to 3-2.

Senzatela got the first out by striking out Garrett Mitchell with a 92.3 mph cutter, but Sal Frelick followed with a 106 mph double to tie the game.

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Andrew Vaughn then came off the bench and bounced a single through the drawn-in infield, scoring two runs and giving Milwaukee a 5-3 lead.

Senzatela finished with 1.2 innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on four hits with four strikeouts. His ERA moved to 1.98. Brennan Bernardino entered and got Yelich to ground out to end the inning.

Rockies answer in bottom of ninth

The Rockies did not let the game end in the bottom of the ninth against Trevor Megill.

Colorado loaded the bases after Thompson reached on a strange play near first base, Kyle Karros followed with a 101.7 mph single to right off a 96.6 mph four-seam fastball, and Freeman singled to left.

Chad Stevens worked a bases-loaded walk to score Thompson and cut Milwaukee’s lead to 5-4. Goodman followed after an ABS challenge overturned a ball call and made the count 0-2. He still got a 98.5 mph four-seam fastball in the air, hitting a sacrifice fly to right at 96.6 mph and 323 feet to score pinch-runner Braxton Fulford and tie the game at 5-5.

Troy Johnston came up with runners on the corners and two outs, but flew out to left to send the game to extra innings.

Brewers take control in extras

Juan Mejia took over in the 10th with Yelich starting the inning at second as the automatic runner. Mejia got the first out by striking out Chourio, but back-to-back walks to Brice Turang and Gary Sánchez loaded the bases.

The walks set up the inning. Bauers doubled to center to give Milwaukee a 7-5 lead, and Mitchell and Frelick followed with run-scoring singles to make it 9-5.

Mejia allowed four runs, three earned, on three hits and two walks in one-third of an inning. His ERA rose to 6.67.

“Walks kill you. Especially late in the game. Walks always kill you,” Warren Schaeffer said after the game.

Seth Halvorsen entered with runners on first and second and one out, but walked Joey Ortiz on four pitches to load the bases again. He avoided further damage, striking out Hamilton on three straight sliders after starting him with a ball, then getting Yelich to ground out on a 96.7 mph four-seam fastball after falling behind 3-0.

The Rockies had one more push in the bottom of the 10th against Aaron Ashby. Johnston started the inning at second, Castro was hit by a pitch and Tovar walked to load the bases. Thompson followed with a two-run single to center, scoring Johnston and Castro to cut Milwaukee’s lead to 9-7.

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That was as close as Colorado got. Brett Sullivan grounded into a double play, moving Tovar to third but clearing the bases, and McCarthy struck out on a foul tip to end the game.

Interesting notes

Feltner has allowed one run over 12 innings in two starts since returning from the injured list, with six strikeouts and two walks.

Goodman’s homer was his 16th of the season. It came off an 81.5 mph curveball from Sproat and traveled 411 feet with a 106.4 mph exit velocity.

The Rockies finished 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position, while the Brewers went 6-for-15.

Milwaukee had the edge in stolen bases, finishing with three to Colorado’s two.

The Rockies had three two-out RBI, while the Brewers had four.

Colorado scored in each of the first three innings, went scoreless from the fourth through the eighth, then scored two runs in both the ninth and 10th.

Milwaukee scored eight of its nine runs in the ninth and 10th innings.

Up next

The Rockies and Brewers continue the series Saturday at Coors Field, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. MDT.

Milwaukee is scheduled to start Jacob Misiorowski, who enters with a 6-2 record, 1.65 ERA and 108 strikeouts. Schaeffer declined to name Colorado’s starter after Friday’s game, saying, “Not yet,” though Zach Agnos could be part of the pitching plan.