John Axford failed to hold a 3-3 tie in the 9th and the Milwaukee Brewers dropped their series opener to the Colorado Rockies 4-3 at Miller Park on Friday night.
Axford came out of the bullpen to start the 9th inning for the Brewers. Pinch hitter Jason Giambi hit a bloop single to start the Rockies rally and was replaced by pinch runner Eric Young. Young moved to second on a pickoff throwing error by Axford, then took 3rd on a flyout. Michael Cuddyer came on as a pinch hitter and singled up the middle to drive in the game winning run for the Rockies.
Matt Belisle earned the win for Colorado and Rafael Betancourt pitched the ninth for his fourth save. Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin went seven innings, giving up three runs and four hits with a walk and six strikeouts. He also had an RBI single in the fourth.
Chacin retired the first 10 batters he faced before Milwaukee’s Norichika Aoki lined a ball to left that eluded the glove of diving left fielder Carlos Gonzalez. Aoki circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run. Aoki also added a double and run scored in the sixth.
Todd Helton hit his second home run of the season and Troy Tulowitzki had a single and an RBI double for the Rockies.
Ryan Braun went 0 for 3 for the Brewers, bring his total to 0 for 14 on the homestand.
Brewers starter Shaun Marcum went six innings giving up three runs on eight hits. The Brewers and Rockies play game two of the series tonight.
