Rockies find offense too late in loss to Crew

MILWAUKEE -- The Rockies scored more runs in the ninth inning than they had in the previous three games against the Brewers, but it wasn’t enough.

Colorado rallied for three ninth-inning runs, including a two-run Ian Desmond homer off ace reliever Josh Hader, but lost, 4-3, to Milwaukee on Tuesday night at Miller Park. It was the Rockies’ 12th loss in 14 games against the Brewers, a stretch that includes a sweep in the National League Division Series that ended with consecutive shutouts.

”They’re making pitches,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We just can’t seem to break through. Tonight, we hit some balls on the nose to no avail. But their assortment of offspeed pitches, they’re disrupting our timing. We’re getting guys on base at times, especially early in the game, but we can’t seem to get the big hit or break through.”

The Rockies managed one hit in each of the first two innings, but that was it against Jhoulys Chacin, who entered the game with a 6.35 ERA but threw six scoreless innings. After Colorado starter German Marquez, who was perfect through five innings, allowed a run in the sixth, Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar took him deep for a three-run home run in the seventh, giving Milwaukee the cushion it ended up needing.

Junior Guerra entered in relief of Chacin in the seventh inning and struck out the first six hitters he faced, but Nolan Arenado snapped an 0-for-13 skid with a one-out RBI double in the ninth. Then after Hader came in and struck out Ryan McMahon for the second out, Desmond followed with a two-run homer to make it 4-3, but pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds then struck out to end the game.

“The same thing I was doing the rest of my at-bats, just trying to grind it out,” Desmond said. “I got a good pitch there and was able to put it out of the park. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean anything. We’re trying to win games, so individual stuff doesn’t really matter.”

Before the three-run ninth inning, Colorado had managed just one unearned run over 36 innings against the Brewers. That run came during Monday’s 5-1 defeat to Milwaukee.

Chacin was the cause of the Rockies’ offensive frustrations for six innings on Tuesday. He was 0-3 with a 7.64 ERA in his previous four starts, but Colorado couldn’t get comfortable against the right-hander’s offspeed-heavy arsenal. Chacin entered the game with a 3.32 ERA in four regular-season starts against his former club in his career. He also threw five scoreless innings against the Rockies in Game 2 of last year's NLDS.

“Keeping guys off balance, he’s pretty good at that,” Desmond said. “He changes his delivery, he changes the pitch mix. He kept us off our game.”