DENVER _ It had been a long time coming for Jesus Aguilar.
Mired in a 3-for-27 slump, the Milwaukee Brewers' backup first baseman snapped out in a big way on Friday night.
He hammered a clutch two-out, two-run, pinch-hit home run off All-Star closer Greg Holland in the top of the ninth as the Brewers went on to beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-3, at Coors Field.
The 449-foot shot to straightaway center came just in the nick of time for a Milwaukee team that had produced virtually no offense since the third inning.
Keon Broxton got things started when he was plunked in the elbow with an 0-2 pitch. He moved to second on a groundout by Orlando Arcia which brought Aguilar to the plate batting in the pitcher's spot.
Aguilar worked a full count from Holland before sending an 86-mph slider 449 feet out to straightaway center field to make it 5-3. It was the 12th homer of the season for Aguilar.
The Brewers weren't finished, however. Eric Thames followed by walking, then he stole second and came around to score a big insurance run on a Neil Walker single.
Corey Knebel delivered his 25th save with a scoreless ninth.
Rookie starter Brandon Woodruff was given a 3-0 lead with which to work in the third, and it was he who started the inning off with his first major league hit _ a single to center.
Thames, up next, lined a perfectly placed shot to the gap in right-center that split center fielder Charlie Blackmon and right fielder Carlos Gonzalez and rolled to the wall. Woodruff scored and Thames wound up with a stand-up triple.
After Walker flew out, Ryan Braun drove in Thames with a sacrifice fly to center. Then Shaw followed with a solo homer to right-center off Chad Bettis, tying Thames for the team lead with 27.
Colorado cut into the lead in the fourth on the strength of three singles, the third of which ex-Brewer Jonathan Lucroy dunked into center to drive in another ex-Brewer, Gerardo Parra. That made it 3-1.
Woodruff buckled down at that point and struck out Trevor Story and Bettis to keep the Rockies from building any more momentum.
It wound up being a two-out walk to Nolan Arenado in the fifth that ended Woodruff's night at just 81 pitches. With Parra due up, manager Craig Counsell went to left-hander Josh Hader, and he ultimately needed only two pitches to get Parra to foul out to end the fifth.
In 42/3 innings, Woodruff allowed five hits and three walks while striking out four. The right-hander threw a total of 81 pitches.
Milwaukee's bats went silent after the three-run third, managing only a pair of singles from the fourth through the seventh against Bettis.
Hader, meanwhile, got a 1-6-3 double-play grounder from Lucroy _ the second twin killing he'd grounded into _ to close the sixth but quickly ran into trouble in the seventh when Trevor Story led off with a double to left.
A strikeout got Hader back on track briefly, only to see Blackmon inside-out a single to left field to score Story and cut the lead to 3-2. That brought on Jacob Barnes, who was greeted by a game-tying single by D.J. LeMahieu.
Arenado followed with another single before Barnes buckled down to strike out Parra and get a third ex-Brewer, Mark Reynolds to fly out to left.
All-Star Pat Neshek and Anthony Swarzak (2-0) then traded scoreless eighth innings.
