Moustakas hit saves Brewers in the 10th
MILWAUKEE • Mike Moustakas scored MVP front-runner Christian Yelich with a two-out single in the 10th inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers bounced back to beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 Thursday in their NL Division Series opener.
After giving up two runs in the ninth that made it 2-2, the Brewers regrouped and soon celebrated. Making their first post-season appearance since 2011, they won their ninth straight game overall.
Yelich hit a two-run homer in the third inning, then opened the 10th with a walk against Adam Ottavino. Yelich advanced to second on a wild pitch and came home on Moustakas’ line drive to right field. After almost winning the Triple Crown this year, Yelich got two hits, scored twice and stole a base in is playoff debut.
Josh Hader and the Brewers allowed just one hit over eight innings in a dominant bullpen game and led 2-0 before Jeremy Jeffress gave up three straight singles to open the ninth. Charlie Blackmon grounded an RBI single shortly after his ground-rule double was overruled on replay review, and Nolan Arenado added a basesloaded sacrifice fly to tie it.
Game 2 is Friday in Milwaukee with Colorado’s Tyler Anderson opposing Jhoulys Chacin, who led Milwaukee with 35 starts this year. He started Monday when the Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in the NL Central tiebreaker at Wrigley Field.
Joakim Soria picked up the win in the opener with a scoreless 10th.
Chants of “Mooose!” echoed through the stands as the Brewers celebrated on the field.
This was the just the situation that the Brewers had in mind for Moustakas when they got him from Kansas City in a late July trade. The two-time all-star third baseman had 15 RBIs in 31 postseason games while with the Royals. Make it 16 now in Milwaukee.
Back in the post-season for the first time in seven seasons, the Brewers might not be leaving any time soon with the way Yelich keeps getting big hits and a deep bullpen mows down batters.
The big-hitting Rockies, meanwhile, are still struggling to find their stroke. They outlasted the Cubs 2-1 in 13 innings to win the NL wild-card game at Wrigley on Tuesday, and this visit to Miller Park meant them playing in a different city for the fourth time in five days.
With more and more teams relying exclusively on relievers in the regular season, the Brewers tried to take the new-wave approach to a new level in October.
A group effort from the pitching staff played just as big a role in limiting the Rockies.
Colorado was 1 of 23 with 10 strikeouts over the first eight innings. They were 3 of 6 in the ninth.