Daylight is a nightmare FIVE TAKEAWAYS
Brewers fall to 17-28 in the day
The Milwaukee Brewers' daytime doldrums continue.
Nolan Arenado slugged a two-out home run off Corey Knebel in the 11th inning, and the Brewers fell to the Colorado Rockies, 5-4, on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.
The Brewers used an improbable three-run rally in the ninth to send the game into extras only to see their efforts ultimately fall short. They dropped to 4-14 on Sundays and 1728 in day games as a result.
"That sucks," Knebel said of the Brewers' daylight struggles. "We just need to play more night games, I guess. I can't really wrap my head around that.
"It's just one of those things. It's baseball. Stuff 's going to happen like that."
It didn't even appear as though the game would be close to going to extra innings after Trevor Story and Jon Gray combined for a potent 1-2 punch for Colorado.
Story hit his fourth homer of the series in the fifth off Wade Miley to give the Rockies a 3-1 lead, then he drove in his fourth run in the ninth with a grounder. Gray, meanwhile, allowed just five hits and one run — a second-inning homer by Travis Shaw — before departing after eight innings in favor of Adam Ottavino.
It was then that things got interesting.
Mike Moustakas led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer to right — his first with the Brewers — and then Ryan Braun reached on catcher's interference when he ticked Tom Murphy's glove on a swing.
Erik Kratz followed by reaching on a strikeout-wild pitch with two outs and Orlando Arcia doubled to left to score Braun to make it 4-3.
Kratz advanced to third on Arcia's double, and with Hernán Pérez at the plate, Ottavino uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Kratz to score and tie it at 4-4.
Pérez ultimately struck out, sending the Brewers to extra innings for the 13th time.
Knebel, who's been used more of late in non-save situations by manager Craig Counsell, tossed a scoreless 10th and was one out away from finishing the 11th when the all-star Arenado stepped to the plate.
He ultimately capped a six-pitch at-bat by homering to left on a 98mph fastball.
It was the seventh homer allowed by Knebel (2-2) in 342⁄3 innings, a career high. The two-inning appearance was the longest for the righthander since last Sept. 22.
The Brewers again mounted a rally in the ninth when Shaw and Jonathan Schoop each singled to put two on with one out for Kratz.
Kratz sent a grounder to Story, who tried to turn two as Kratz slid head-first into first base and was called safe by Brian O'Nora. But after a replay challenge of just 58 seconds, the call was overturned and the game was over.
COMMON THREAD: The Brewers have hit back-to-back homers six times this season, with Shaw being involved in each of the last four occurrences. He and Pérez both took Colorado's Tyler Anderson deep in the first inning in Saturday's victory, making the first time consecutive Milwaukee batters had homered since May 16 at Arizona, when Shaw and Domingo Santana did it.
STAY HOT: Christian Yelich came into Sunday having hit safely in 23 of his last 25 games during which he was batting .439 with six homers and 24 RBI. He also entered the day leading the National League with a .326 average.
OUCH: The day didn't start off so well for Moustakas, either. In attempting to field LeMahieu's hot shot at third base two batters into the game, he was victim of a tough hop that led to the ball coming up and hitting him in the upper chest. LeMahieu was credited with a single, and Moustakas was no worse for wear afterward.
A DIFFERENT LOOK: Manager Craig Counsell gave Shaw just his second start at first base this season, giving the Brewers four consecutive left-handed hitters at the front of their lineup and getting Aguilar a day off.
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: The Brewers fell short in their bid to sweep the Rockies for the first time since Aug. 22-24, 2016. They came in having won seven of their last eight against Colorado.