Photo courtesy of the Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

The wind was blowing in at Coors Field on Friday night, but that didn’t prevent a classic Colorado offensive showdown as the Brewers dropped the opening game of the series 11-7 to the Rockies, ending their 7 game winning streak.

The Brewers grabbed the lead in the first inning thanks to an RBI single from Ryan Braun, who departed the game with left calf discomfort. Braun has a calf strain and will need an MRI, per MLB’s Adam McCalvy. After Colorado tied it at 1 in the bottom of the 1st, Lorenzo Cain hit an absolute moonshot to left field to put Milwaukee back up 2-1 in the 4th inning. It was Cain’s 11th home run of the season.

Zach Davies departed after five innings after only allowing 1 earned run and 2 hits on 68 pitches, and the bullpen broke down in the 6th inning. Ray Black failed to record an out in the 6th as he allowed the game-tying homer to Charlie Blackmon and proceeded to allow Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story to reach. Colorado busted the game open with a pinch-hit grand slam by Raimel Tapia off of Jay Jackson in the 6th, which gave Colorado an 8-2 lead. The Rockies tacked on 3 more runs in the 7th inning off of Jake Faria and the game appeared over with Colorado up 11-2 after 7 innings.

The Brewers loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 8th, and Orlando Arcia delivered with a 2-run single, cutting the deficit to 11-4. In the 9th inning, the Brewers threatened again against Colorado reliever Jairo Diaz, as they again loaded the bases with one out following an RBI single from Travis Shaw. Cory Spangenberg hit an RBI infield single and Arcia followed with an RBI groundout to cut the Rockies’ lead to 11-7. The injured Mike Moustakas came in to pinch hit with 2 outs and flew out to left field on the first pitch, cutting off Milwaukee’s late comeback attempt and securing a Rockies victory.

Keston Hiura went 4-4 on the day including a pair of doubles. He also reached base via a hit by pitch. Jimmy Nelson threw a scoreless 8th inning in the loss.

The Brewers now fall to 1.5 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central and 2 games back of the Nationals, who are now very likely to secure home field for the NL Wild Card game on Tuesday night.

The series continues tomorrow night at 7:10 PM CT as Gio Gonzalez will face off against Rockies right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez.

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