DENVER (AP) — Andrew Susac hit his first homer of the season, a two-run drive in the 10th inning that lifted the Milwaukee Brewers over the Colorado Rockies 6-4 in Sunday's season finale.
After Orlando Arcia hustled for a two-out double, Susac followed with a liner to left off Chris Rusin (3-5). It was Susac's first homer since July 12 last year while with San Francisco.
Reliever Tyler Thornburg (8-5) won after blowing a lead for a second straight day. Corey Knebel pitched a perfect 10th for his second save, striking out Charlie Blackmon to end the season.
There was plenty of intrigue with Chris Carter and Arenado dueling for the NL home run title. Both were kept in the park and finished tied with 41.
DJ LeMahieu sat out Sunday to protect his lead in the batting title race. It worked as LeMahieu edged Washington's Daniel Murphy by.3478 to .3465.
Domingo Santana hit a two-run homer in the eighth to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead. It wouldn't last as Jordan Patterson tied it with a two-out single in the ninth that scored Nolan Arenado. Patterson also had a run-scoring double in the fifth — his first two major league RBIs.
The Brewers struck out 12 times to give them a big league record 1,543 for the season, topping Houston's1,535 in 2013. Santana's whiff in the fourth pushed them over the mark.
Blackmon led off with a homer — the 10th time he's done that this year. He also had two doubles and a single in what could be manager Walt Weiss' last game with the Rockies. His contract expires at the end of the season and the front office has yet to announce whether they will bring Weiss back.
Santana's homer spoiled a solid outing from German Marquez, who was in line for the win after allowing two runs and striking out seven in six innings.
Marquez had a comical play in the fifth when he stopped Jake Elmore's comebacker up the middle, but dropped his glove as he chased after the ball. He was still able to throw out Elmore at first.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Brewers: OF Ryan Braun was given the day off on the final afternoon of the season. "He's at 135 games right now, that's a success," manager Craig Counsell said.
Rockies: SS Trevor Story (torn ligament in left thumb) said he's about a month away from being "full go and . He was limited to 97 games, but entered the day leading all rookies with 27 homers.
OLYMPIC SPIRIT
Olympians Emma Coburn and Jenny Simpson threw out the first pitch Sunday — while wearing their bronze medals from the Rio de Janeiro Games. Simpson (1,500 meters) and Coburn (steeplechase) crossed things up by throwing to opposite catchers.
THIS & THAT
Brewers infielder Jonathan Villar fell a homer shy of becoming the fourth player in major league history to hit 20 homers and steal 60 bases. He wound up with a league-leading 62 stolen bases. ... Milwaukee started reliever Tyler Cravy for two innings and then turned things over to the bullpen.
TRENDING UP
Milwaukee (73-89) won five more games than a season ago and Colorado (75-87) turned in its best record since 2010.
