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Rockies rally in eighth to top Brewers

Jun 7, 2008 - 6:03 AM By Brady Delander PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- With the Colorado Rockies fading fast and their 2007 National League championship a distant memory, Coors Field should have been a welcome destination for the surging Milwaukee Brewers. And for more than seven innings, it was.

But the Rockies rallied in the bottom of the eighth inning as Brad Hawpe capped the outburst with a two-run homer, pushing Colorado to a 5-4 victory over the Brewers on Friday night.

With Colorado trailing, 4-1, Jonathan Herrera and Ryan Spilborghs opened the eighth against Guillermo Mota (2-4) with singles. Todd Helton plated Herrera with a double and Garrett Atkins followed with a two-run triple to knot the game.

"It was nice to see the bats come alive at the end of the game," said Atkins, whose hit landed just beyond the glove of diving center fielder Gabe Kapler. "I hit it pretty good, kind of a line drive. I was hoping he wasn't going to catch it, but if he did, it was a sac fly."

"Mota's been our eighth-inning pitcher for the majority of the year," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said of the righthander, who allowed four runs and four hits without retiring a batter. "It was the eighth inning, we went to our eighth-inning pitcher."

Lefthander Brian Shouse was brought in to face Hawpe, who was activated from the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day. The 28-year-old proceeded to launch Shouse's first offering over the right field wall for his fourth homer of the season and a 6-4 advantage.

"I was looking first-pitch fastball and got a breaking ball up in the zone," Hawpe said. "My whole goal going into that at-bat was to not try to swing too hard. Go nice and easy and put the barrel on the ball and see what happens."

"Brad is back," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "There's times you got to believe in what you believe and put him out there. What a pretty swing he put on it. That's got to be a big boost for his confidence."

Colorado's comeback did not surprise Milwaukee starter Ben Sheets, who saw his chance at his seventh win of the season disappear.

"It's Coors Field. Nothing here shocks me," Sheets said. "I've given up big innings here and I've seen them given up. With the humidor, whatever they want to call it, it's still a hard place to pitch, I think."

Hawpe's blast made a winner of Manny Corpas (1-3), who tossed a scoreless eighth. Brian Fuentes worked a perfect ninth for his ninth save.

Spilborghs, Helton, Atkins and Jeff Baker had two hits apiece each for the Rockies, who have won three in a row.

Russell Branyan and J.J. Hardy belted back-to-back homers in the fifth for Milwaukee, which had its six-game winning streak snapped.

Colorado starter Ubaldo Jimenez was tagged for four runs and five hits in six innings with two walks and six strikeouts. Counterpart Sheets also worked six frames, yielding one run, five hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Kapler gave the Brewers an early lead with an RBI single in the first, but Baker answered with a run-scoring double an inning later. After Branyan and Hardy homered in the fifth, Jason Kendall made it 4-1 with a triple in the seventh that plated Hardy.