DENVER (AP) - Chris Carter’s homer broke one tie to forge another, and set up a showdown on the last day of the season for the NL home run crown.
Carter hit a tiebreaking home run with two outs in the top of the 10th inning, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.
Carter’s 41st homer of the season came on a 3-2 pitch against Adam Ottavino (1-3) and salvaged a victory after the Milwaukee bullpen gave up a three-run lead in the eighth and ninth.
He also tied Colorado’s Nolan Arenado for the NL lead in long balls. Arenado hit his 41st Friday night but went 0 for 5 in Saturday’s loss.
The two will decide Sunday who wins the home run crown or if it ends in a tie like last year when Arenado and Bryce Harper finished with 42 each.
“I’m not going to change anything,” Carter said. “I’m just going to keep everything the same thing. Trying to get a pitch up in the zone and get the barrel to it. It’s definitely crazy we’re playing against each other.”
His 41st home run turned the game around after the Rockies tied it. He worked Ottavino to a full count before hitting a slider 404 feet to left.
“I threw it where I wanted. He hadn’t given me any indication he was going to hit it, so I wasn’t too careful there, trying to throw a strike,” Ottavino said. “I regret it now, but in the moment I was pretty comfortable throwing it.”
Colorado’s rally spoiled a strong outing for the Brewers’ Wily Peralta, who tossed six scoreless innings to close out his season. Peralta recorded his fourth straight quality start, and ninth in his last 10 outings. He appeared headed for a win after the Brewers built a 3-0 lead.
“That was a heck of an effort from Wily,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He put up six scoreless innings here against a good lineup; it’s a great finish for Wily.”
Hernan Perez made it 1-0 in the fifth when he scored on Martin Maldonado’s bunt single off Rockies starter Jeff Hoffman. Ryan Braun, who finished with two hits, had an RBI double in the seventh and scored on Perez’s single.
The Rockies scored twice in the eighth off Corey Knebel but left two runners on. They tied it against Tyler Thornburg (7-5) in the ninth on pinch-hitter Tom Murphy’s RBI double.
The Rockies got the tying run to second with one out in the bottom of the 10th but Jacob Barnes struck out David Dahl and got Jordan Patterson to line out to right to pick up his first save.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: OF Gerardo Parra had a platelet-rich plasma injection into his left ankle on Friday and is done for the season.
CENTURY MARK
Carlos Gonzalez had a run-scoring single in the eighth to give him 100 RBIs on the season. It is just the second time he has reached the mark. He had 117 in 2010 and 97 last year when he hit 40 home runs.
It took a while for him to reach the mark. He hadn’t driven in a run since Sept. 21 despite playing nearly every day.
“It’s beautiful, man. I think it’s been a while since I had that 99,” Gonzalez said. “I always joke about it with the guys that when I’m trying to reach 99, it always gives me a hard time to reach the next one. If it’s nine RBIs and you want to get to 10, you just hit really hard. I’m really happy.”
GREAT START
Patterson didn’t get the key hit in the 10th but he finished with three singles. It was his first start at first base and his second start overall.
“It’s good to see Jordan get a start, get some at-bats,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “He had a nice play over there, so it went well.”
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Tyler Cravy (0-1, 2.39) will start Sunday in what Counsell called a “bullpen day.”
Rockies: Rookie RHP German Marquez (1-1, 6.14) will make his third start of the season and sixth appearance.
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