DENVER (AP) - Adam Ottavino thought he made a good pitch to Chris Carter, but the Milwaukee Brewers’ slugger put a good swing on it.
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 after Ottavino (1-3) struck out the first two batters. It spoiled the Rockies’ comeback after they had rallied to tie the score against the Brewers’ bullpen in the eighth and ninth.
“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.”
Carter 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.”
Colorado 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.
The Rockies were shut down by Milwaukee starter Wily Peralta, who tossed six scoreless innings, but rallied against the bullpen.
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.
Rookie Jeff Hoffman battled Peralta for five innings in his first start in four outings.
“Hoffman did a good job,” manager Walt Weiss said. “He was on a bit of a short leash tonight just because he hadn’t started in a little while. So we’re thinking five innings, 75 pitches or in that neighborhood.”
Hoffman went down 1-0 when Hernan Perez scored on Martin Maldonado’s bunt single. Ryan Braun, who finished with two hits, had an RBI double in the seventh and scored on Perez’s single.
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,” 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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