MILWAUKEE – It was a tough night for the young Colorado Rockies bullpen.
Hernan Perez hit a two-run triple in the seventh inning, lifting the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-4 comeback win over the Rockies on Tuesday night.
The bullpen allowed four runs in two innings and has a 4.86 ERA this year. It was the eighth time this season Colorado has lost when leading after six innings, and it ruined a strong start by Jon Gray.
“We’ve got some young talented guys in the bullpen that are learning on the job,” Colorado manager Walt Weiss said. “Sometimes you go through these types of things.”
Perez hit an 0-2 pitch from rookie Carlos Estevez into the right-field corner. Jonathan Villar scored from second and Ryan Braun from first when Daniel Descalso’s cutoff throw to the plate was wide and got past catcher Nick Hundley to give Milwaukee a 5-4 lead.
“It’s always frustrating when you are winning late and don’t put the game away,” Weiss said. “You’ve got a few guys down there right now searching for their confidence. Sometimes it just takes going out there and putting down a clean inning once or twice.”
Milwaukee has won three consecutive games after dropping eight of nine.
Brent Suter (1-1) pitched a scoreless seventh for his first career victory in his first relief appearance after making his major league debut in a spot start Friday night. Corey Knebel pitched the ninth for his first career save in his 75th game, getting Hundley to ground into a fielder’s choice with two runners on to end it.
The Brewers trailed 4-2 in the seventh when pinch-hitter Orlando Arcia doubled with one out, chasing reliever Jake McGee. Boone Logan (2-3) then gave up a double to Villar to make it 4-3, struck out Scooter Gennett and intentionally walked Braun.
Estevez, recalled from the minors on Monday, entered and threw two hard strikes to Perez, but the Brewers third baseman swatted the rookie’s third pitch into the right-field corner to give Milwaukee the lead for good.
The Brewers extended the lead to 6-4 on a sacrifice fly by Domingo Santana off rookie Matt Carasiti in the eighth.
Nolan Arenado hit a three-run home run, his 33rd, for Colorado. He went 3 for 5 and is now 9 for 13 with three home runs and nine RBIs in his last three games.
Gray struck out 10 in six innings. He allowed two runs, four hits and three walks to bounce back from a three-game slump where he gave up 18 earned runs in just 11 innings.
“I really need to bounce back,” Gray said. “The team is counting on me to give us a chance to win. I was just happy to compete and get outs.”
A female fan was injured when struck by a line drive off the bat of Hundley in the second inning. She was worked on for about 8 minutes and removed from the stands on a stretcher and taken to an ambulance. No further information on her condition was given. “You never want to see that happen,” Hundley said. “I hope she’s all right and I’ll try to reach out and see what’s going on.”
