The Milwaukee Brewers missed a golden opportunity to tie or win the National League’s Central Division and capped the regular season by being swept by the Colorado Rockies in Denver.
The Chicago Cubs beat St. Louis twice on Friday and Saturday, but the Brewers failed to take advantage. Then Sunday, with the Cubs being blown out by the Cardinals (9-0), Brewers manager Craig Counsell called off the dogs, resting his regulars by removing them from the game and putting all focus on the wildcard playoff game in Washington on Tuesday night. The Brewers fell to the Rockies 4-3 in 13-innings when Jake Faria allowed the winning run to score on a wild pitch.
The Brewers led 3-0 in the seventh on home runs by Yasmani Grandal and Hernan Perez, but manager Craig Counsell had already started the process of pulling players. Adrian Houser started and tossed four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with one walk and five strikeouts.
The Brewers now turn their attention to the single wildcard playoff game against the Nationals in Washington D.C. on Tuesday night. Brandon Woodruff (11-3) will start that game for the Brewers, against the Nationals Max Scherzer (11-7).
The Brewers won the season series against the Nationals 4-2. If the Brewers get past the Nationals, they’ll head to Los Angeles to open the National League Divisional Series against the Dodgers on Thursday and Friday.
Yelich captures batting crown
Despite seeing his season come to an end earlier this month, Christian Yelich is the National League’s batting champ, for the second consecutive season. Yelich and Arizona’s Ketel Marte both finished at .329, but Yelich finished percentage points ahead of Marte.
Yelich hit .326 last season to win his and the Brewers first batting crown. He’s the first player to win back-to-back titles since Colorado’s Larry Walker did it in 2998 (.363) and 1999 (.379).
AUDIO: Craig Counsell on their Tuesday matchup with Washington :16
AUDIO: Craig Counsell said this one game scenario is just like their month of September :22