Milwaukee, Major League Baseball’s best home team in the regular season, fed off a frenzied crowd in the sixth inning where they broke a 4-4 tie by scoring five runs to bust the game open.
“Everyone strung at-bats together and we didn’t get out of our game plan,” Brewers outfielder Nyjer Morgan told reporters of the breakthrough inning. “There’s no quit in the Brew Crew. We’re a complete unit. We all compete.”
National League most valuable player candidate Ryan Braun went 3-for-4 for the second straight game, including a two-run shot in the first inning and three RBIs.
The Diamondbacks erased a 4-1 deficit with a homer by Chris Young and a two-run shot by Justin Upton, but things went awry in the sixth with reliever Brad Ziegler being called for a balk that moved Milwaukee’s Jerry Hairston Jr. to third base.
Hairston then scored on a bunt from Jonathan Lucroy and the Brewers followed with three RBI singles that effectively ended Arizona’s chances of tying the series.
“The guys battled and they did come back in this environment, and then we unraveled there,” said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson.
Arizona starter Daniel Hudson took the loss, having allowed five runs on nine hits in 5-1/3 innings.
Brewers starter Zack Greinke has not lost at home all season and kept his streak intact with a no-decision on Sunday as he allowed four runs in five innings before his bullpen shutdown Arizona the rest of the way.
The Brewers jumped in front 2-0 in the first on Braun’s blast and added two runs in the third for a 4-1 edge but Young and Upton homered in the fourth and fifth innings respectively to tie the game.
The Diamondbacks, who lost 4-1 on Saturday despite putting 20-game winner Ian Kennedy on the mound, will look to stave off elimination on Tuesday when the series shifts to Arizona.
In Philadelphia, another gritty St. Louis comeback lifted the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday to tie their best-of-five divisional playoff series 1-1.
Having overcome an 8.5 game deficit in the final month of the season to claw their way into the playoffs, the Cardinals rallied from 4-0 down to the Phillies on Sunday and now head back to St. Louis for Game Three on Tuesday.
“Everyone thought we were out of the competition, and we’re here,” Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols told reporters. “You can’t take anything for granted, you have 27 outs and that’s what it took.
“Hopefully we continue to play like this.”
The Cardinals’ rally began in the fourth inning where they scored three runs to get back in the game, and in the sixth Jon Jay hit the game-tying RBI single to score Ryan Theriot, who got on base with a two-out double.
Jay finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs on the night while Theriot also added two hits and two runs scored.
Pujols delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh and finished 2-for-5 as the visitors beat Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee.
Lee has pitched in the last two World Series, for the Phillies in 2009 and Texas last season, but he could not find his consistency against the Cardinals and allowed five runs and 12 hits.
St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter, pitching on just three days rest, lasted only three innings and left with his team trailing 4-0 but the Cardinals used six relievers to close out the Phillies.
Octavio Dotel tossed a perfect 1 1/3 inning and was credited with the win and Jason Motte worked the final 1 1/3 to record the save.
“We got Carpenter out of the game early. We felt real good about ourselves,” said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. “We were trying to get to the bullpen, but the big problem was their bullpen held us.”
Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard hit a two-RBI single in the first inning where the Phillies scored three runs before adding another in the second.
Jimmy Rollins finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored for Philadelphia.
