DENVER _ Before Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Wily Peralta took the mound Saturday night for his final start of the season, manager Craig Counsell discussed how much better Peralta had pitched since returning from a two-month stint with Class AAA Colorado Springs.
"We don't like sending players to the minor leagues but it helped him," Counsell said. "It had to be done. It was part of how he got to this point."
Peralta then went out and put a final exclamation point on his resurgence with six shutout innings against Colorado. He shared hero honors for the Brewers with slugger Chris Carter, who belted his 41st home run in the 10th inning for the deciding run.
Carter tied Colorado's Nolan Arenado for the National League lead with one game remaining, breaking a 3-3 deadlock created when the Rockies scored a run in the bottom of the ninth off Brewers closer Tyler Thornburg. Rookie Jacob Barnes pitched the bottom of the 10th for his first major-league save.
Peralta finished his up-and-down season with four quality starts, posting a 2.25 earned run average in the process. In 10 starts after returning from Colorado Springs, Peralta fashioned a 2.92 ERA.
Yes, this was the same man who was 5-7 with a 6.68 ERA in 13 starts before being banished to the pitching house of horrors known as Security Service Field. But not the same pitcher.
Peralta returned with added velocity and the put-away slider that was missing his first time around. He thrust himself back into the picture for 2017, prompting Counsell to use a six-man rotation down the stretch until Junior Guerra and Zach Davies reached pitch limits.
"We're going to enter the off-season with six starters for five spots," Counsell said. "Wily had to work to get there. He had to work for the last two months."
The Brewers were unable to touch Rockies starter Jeff Hoffman in the early going, with the first 11 batters going down in order. Ryan Braun snapped that spell with a single to center with two down in the fourth and he moved to second on a passed ball but Chris Carter struck out to end the inning.
With some help from the Rockies, the Brewers snapped a 0-0 deadlock with a run in the fifth inning, missing a chance for a bigger outburst. It started with a walk by Hernan Perez and error by shortstop Cristhian Adames, who flipped wildly to second after fielding Orlando Arcia's grounder.
Perez advanced to third on the play and scored when Martin Maldonado sent a shallow roller down the third-base line for a base hit. Pinch-hitter Scooter Gennett struck out but the pitch from Hoffman also was wild, allowing both runners to advance.
After Peralta struck out, the Rockies opted to intentionally walk Jonathan Villar to load the bases and get to Domingo Santana, a move that worked when Santana struck out to leave it at 1-0.
Peralta had to work out of a couple of jams in the first five innings. David Dahl and Jordan Patterson singled to open the bottom of the second but Adames grounded into a double play (the Brewers successfully challenged a safe call at first base) and Tony Wolters struck out.
After Patterson led off the Rockies fifth with a single, Maldonado threw him out trying to steal second. That play loomed large when Adames followed with a hit, and Peralta was able to escape without damage.
The Brewers boosted their lead to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the eighth and had a chance for more. Villar led off with a single off reliever Eddie Butler and stole second. Santana walked on a wild pitch that allowed Villar to move to third.
Jordan Lyles took over for Butler and Braun greeted him with a double into the left-field corner to score Villar. Santana also tried to score on the play but was thrown out at home. After a walk to Carter, Perez smacked a RBI single to center.
Carlos Torres pitched a scoreless seventh for the Brewers but Corey Knebel allowed two runs in the eighth, one of them unearned because of an error by Gennett at second base. The rally started with a triple by Wolters and a run-scoring single by Pat Valaika.
The Rockies then forced extra innings with a run in the ninth off Thornburg, coming on pinch-hitter Tom Murphy's RBI double.
