Rockies walk-off Brewers again for sweep; avoid last in NL West

Tony Wolters received the first pitch from starter Jeff Hoffman at Coors Field on Sunday at 1:10 MST, just as 14 other catchers around MLB did so simultaneously on the final day of the regular season.

For Colorado, the result of game 162 meant little more than pride and playing out the final nine innings to the best of their abilities. For Milwaukee, the affair represented a chance to decide the NL Central and their travel plans for the next week.

Regardless of the details on the field, it was another beautiful day in LoDo and for the 36,771 in attendance – who helped bring the 2019 season total to 2,993,244 – it was the last chance to see their beloved Rockies at home for another six months until the 2020 home opener on April 3.

While it may have taken thirteen innings of baseball, Colorado put the finishing touches on a three-game sweep against the Brewers just twelve months after being eliminated in the 2019 NLDS.

Call it Los Cucarachas’ Revenge.

Thanks to a walk by Sam Hilliard and single from Yonathan Daza that nearly ended the game with a play out of the Denver Nuggets playbook, the pick-and-roll of first base umpire Brian Gorman nearly allowed for a weird winner, to say the least.

But on the second pitch to pinch hitter Ian Desmond, there was no doubt about the rightful victor as Milwaukee waived the white flag: a splitter in the dirt got past catcher Jacob Nottingham and Hilliard scored the winning run on a wild pitch.

Four hours earlier, the Brewers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a walk by rookie Trent Grisham and a two-run home run for Yasmani Grandal, his 28th home run of the season, marking a career-high for the impending free agent catcher.

Hilliard legged out an infield single in the bottom half of the first before stealing second base and third base on consecutive pitches. Charlie Blackmon wanted to drive one deep enough to sacrifice Hillard home, but got far too beneath a 3-2 fastball from starter Adrian Houser and popped it up: it would be the last real run-scoring opportunity until the seventh.

Both teams called upon relief in the fifth with Hoffman at 95 pitches and Houser at only 48. Sam Howard surrendered a home run on the first pitch to pinch hitter Hernán Pérez to lift Milwaukee to a 3-0 lead.

At this point, the auxiliary scoreboard in right field showed a 9-0 lead for the St. Louis Cardinals, so manager Craig Counsell opted to rest some of his starters in preparation of their impending Wild Card Game against Washington on Tuesday.

However, the Rockies and Los Cucarachas would not go down without a fight. In a similar scene to Saturday’s come from behind victory, Colorado scored a run in three-straight innings.

In the seventh, Raimel Tapia singled and stole second base. Josh Fuentes wasted no time in driving him home with a single to left center. Pat Valaika followed with a single of his own to put runners on the corners with one out, but they’d have to wait for their next score.

Pinch hitter Dom Nuñez demolished one 424 ft into the second deck in right field for his second home run of the season to start the eighth inning and put Colorado behind by only a run.

Another opportunity for the bottom half of the lineup presented itself in the ninth when Tapia reached second on an error by first baseman Tyler Austin. A walk from Fuentes and RBI single from Valaika tied the game at three to send it to extras.

The Rockies loaded the bases with an intentional walk to pinch hitter Yonder Alonso following a wild pitch that put that winning run 90 ft from destiny, but Nuñez and Garrett Hampson were unsuccessful in ending it in regulation.

With San Diego’s loss and Colorado’s victory, the Rockies finish in fourth place and avoid last in the NL West for the first time since 2015.