Rockies Jump Early, Hold Off Milwaukee's Homers for 5-2 Win

Colorado scored twice in the first inning and never surrendered the lead, beating Milwaukee 5-2 on July 24. Brice Turang's 434-foot shot in the sixth was the loudest moment of the night for the Brewers — but it wasn't enough.

Colorado wasted no time. In the first inning, Carrigg doubled to left to score Karros, then Goodman singled to left to score Carrigg, and just like that the Rockies were up 2-0 before Milwaukee could settle in. Yelich answered immediately with a 413-foot homer to center to cut it to 2-1, and for a moment it looked like the Brewers might be in business. They weren't. Karros singled to right in the third to score McCarthy and push the lead to 3-1 — though Karros was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, with Colorado challenging and the call on the field upheld. A Moniak sacrifice fly to center in the fourth scored Castro and made it 4-1, and the Rockies had effectively built a wall.

Shane Drohan's night tells the story of Milwaukee's loss. He went 6.0 innings, struck out six, but surrendered 5 earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks — the kind of line that loses games regardless of what the bullpen does behind it. Craig Yoho came on and threw 2.0 clean innings, but the damage was already done. On the Colorado side, Tomoyuki Sugano went 5.1 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 6 hits with 5 strikeouts, and Victor Vodnik locked it down with 1.2 hitless innings to close it out. The pitching split looks like the difference in this one.

Turang's sixth-inning homer — 434 feet to center — was the most dramatic swing of the night, pulling Milwaukee's win probability from 21% to 34%. That's a real jolt, and Turang finished 3-for-4 with the home run and an RBI to give him the best individual line on either side. But Colorado answered in the seventh when Rumfield doubled to right to score Moniak and restore the three-run cushion at 5-2. TJ Rumfield went 2-for-2 with that RBI double, and the Rockies' depth up and down the lineup appears to be what separated these two teams tonight. Milwaukee got the two-homer performance they needed from Turang and Yelich — they just couldn't get the pitching to match it.