Playoffs not in cards for Brewers

CARDINALS 7, BREWERS 6

ST. LOUIS» Early on, the Milwaukee Brewers were doing everything they could to keep pressure on Colorado.

By the time their game was over, though, there was no reason to care about what happened at Coors Field.

The Brewers were eliminated from playoff contention Saturday when they squandered a six-run lead in a 7-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, handing baseball’s final postseason spot to the Rockies.

Milwaukee reliever Anthony Swarzak gave up a tying, two-run single to Stephen Piscotty in the eighth inning and a go-ahead single to Harrison Bader. Milwaukee tried to rally in the ninth, but Brett Phillips struck out with a runner on second to end it.

“It’s a fun group, and they found a way I think to lift each other up and that’s why we were in a position we were in on the second-to-last day of the season,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It stings.”

Milwaukee’s loss clinched the second NL wild card for Colorado, which plays at division rival Arizona in the wild-card game Wednesday.

“We knew what was at stake coming in,” Brewers third baseman Travis Shaw said. “Unfortunately, today we didn’t do our part so it really doesn’t matter what happens out West. It took 161 games, but I could not be prouder to be part of this team.”

The young Brewers began the day two games behind Colorado and had hoped to force a tiebreaker Monday by winning their last two regular-season games in St. Louis while the Rockies dropped their final two at home to the Dodgers.

Instead, the Brewers (85-76) blew an early 6-0 lead and their surprising season came to an abrupt end.

Milwaukee hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2011.

“At the beginning of the year nobody cared, nobody thought there was pressure on us to win the division, but we still played hard, we worked hard and we played together,” first baseman Eric Thames said. “We came within one game of being in a postseason spot.”

With the Cardinals already eliminated, Domingo Santana hit a two-run homer and Shaw drove in two runs and scored twice as Milwaukee jumped out to 6-0.

St. Louis scored four times in the bottom half, and Piscotty’s single tied it in the eighth. Piscotty was initially called out trying to reach second on the throw home, but then was ruled safe after a replay review. That set up Bader’s decisive hit with two outs.