Series Recap: Hot and Cold offense takes three of four from Rockies

Game 1 -- Brewers 6, Rockies 5 (13)
It took a while, but they got it done. All-Star starter Corbin Burnes wasn't sharp, using 108 pitches to get through five innings. He gave up only a pair of runs, but just didn't seem to have his command. He struck out five and gave up a two-run dinger to Charlie Blackmon in the third. 

The Brewers offense gave Burnes the lead back quickly in the bottom of the frame, with Willy Adames hitting his 20th home run of the season, and Andrew McCutchen hitting a two run shot with Rowdy Tellez aboard. Burnes left the game with the lead but Trevor Gott got into two-out trouble with a walk and a double and the Rockies tied the game in the sixth. 

The score stayed 3-3 until the 10th when the Rockies scored two with the Manfred man and a sacrifice fly. With two outs in the bottom of the tenth, it looked like the Rockies were about to put the game away when Hunter Renfroe tied it back up.

Both offenses were held in check until the bottom of the 13th, when Luis Urias sent the few remaining faithful fans home happy with a little flare basehit to score Jonathan Davis from second base for the walkoff winner.

With his two innings of scoreless work, Brent Suter vultures his way to 2-3 on the season and the Brewers open up after the break with a win.

Game 2 -- Brewers 9, Rockies 4
Box Score
The Rockies tagged starter Brandon Woodruff with a run in the first, and after that he continued his recent run of excellent work, pitching six, striking out eight, and giving up just that one run. On the other side of the ledger, the Brewers gave Woody all the run support he needed and then some, tallying three times in the fourth, and then putting up a five spot in the sixth inning to basically cement the game away.

The three runs in the fourth came courtesy of another tater off the bat of Renfroe.

Renfroe has been exactly as advertised, and just what the Brewers need in the middle of the order. Hopefully he stays a little more healthy in the second half, because his big bat was clutch in this series. 

The Brewers knocked around former teammates Jose Urena for five runs, and then hit another former Brewer, Jhoulys Chacin , for a pair in the sixth to run the score to 8-1. 

The Rockies scored three in the ninth off of Connor Sadzeck , who has since been moved down to Nashville, but never got close enough to threaten.

Woodruff moved his record to 8-3 with the victory.

Game 3 -- Brewers 10, Rockies 9
Box Score
What didn't happen?  Lead changes, late rallies, pinch-hit homers, you name it. Anyone that turned this one off early missed out.

The Crew hopped out to a 5-2 lead after four innings, with Urias hitting a two-run double in the first, and Renfroe hitting his third homerun in three days. Eric Lauer wasn't exactly cruising, but had worked through four, and had a comfortable lead. With one out in the fourth, he walked a man, gave up a two-run homerun to Kris Bryant, and walked another. Jandel Gustave came in to relieve and got out of the inning with the 5-4 lead intact.

The Rockies struck again in the sixth, getting a pair of runs off of Gustave before manager Craig Counsell replace him with Hoby Milner who worked out of the jam. 

The Brewers came right back in the bottom of the frame when Tyrone Taylor pinch hit a solo homerun and tied the game back up at six. The tie was short lived as the Rockies Elias Diaz slapped a two-run single off of Brewers reliever Brad Boxberger to push the lead back to 8-6.

In the bottom of the 7th, Mike Brosseau double home McCutchen to pull within a run, and then the big inning came for the Crew.

Victor Caratini and Taylor started the 8th inning with ground outs. WIth two outs and no one on base, Christian Yelich drew a walk. Adames followed up with a single. Tellez singled to score Yelich and pull the Crew once again back within a run. This all brought McCutchen to the plate.

It's entirely arguable that ball could have been caught, but it certainly was scorched. Rockies centerfielder Yonathan Daza got a bad read on it, broke in, and realized right away he was burned. With a better read, maybe he catches that ball and we have a completely different outcome, but that's baseball. It's possible he didn't realize how hard the ball was smoked right off the bat. Either way, it was a huge moment and the Brewers headed to the ninth with a two run lead for closer Josh Hader .

Hader gave up a triple and a single, but struck out two and got the save. He's clearly still working through some issues, but had enough going today to get the job done. Suter gets yet another win in relief, and moves to 3-3 and Hader gets save 28.

Game 4 -- Rockies 2, Brewers 0
Box Score
The offense just shut it down Monday. But we can talk about newly signed Aaron Ashby pitching what was probably the best start of his MLB career to date. He went seven strong innings, struck out nine, gave up five hits and one walk, and just two runs. This is what the Brewers thought they were getting when they committed five years (and a few team option years) to him, and this is hopefully a glimpse of the future for Ashby if he can reign in his talent and become more consistent with location.  

Unfortunately for Ashby, Rockies starter Kyle Freeland was just as good and then some, completely shutting down the Brewers on four hits through seven innings. The Crew mounted a late rally, getting a pair of runners in the ninth, but Rockies closer Daniel Bard shut the door and the Brewers weren't able to complete the four game sweep.