Opening Day: Brewers beat Rockies 5-4 in ten innings

W: Jim Henderson (1-0)
L: Adam Ottavino (0-1)

HR: Norichika Aoki (1), Troy Tulowitzki (1), Carlos Gonzalez (1), Dexter Fowler (1)

MVP: Aramis Ramirez (+.615 WPA)
LVP: John Axford (-.212)

Win Expectancy Graph
Box Score

45,781 fans paid to watch the 2013 Brewers open the season on a Monday afternoon at Miller Park, and the Brewers rewarded them with Opening Day bonus baseball and a win. Jonathan Lucroy's bases loaded walkoff sac fly was the difference in a 5-4 victory.

They had a chance to win it in regulation after Aramis Ramirez's double capped off a three-run rally to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead in the eighth. It was Ramirez's second hit of the day, and set the stage for John Axford to come in for the save. The good news is that Axford struck out the side in the ninth. The bad news is that he also allowed a game-tying home run to Dexter Fowler with two outs, causing the game to continue into the bottom of the ninth and eventually extra innings.

Jhoulys Chacin shut the Brewers down today, allowing just three hits and one run on Norichika Aoki's first home run of the season over 6.2 innings. After Aoki's homer in the third the Brewers didn't get another hit until Rickie Weeks singled in the sixth...and was promptly thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

Yovani Gallardo struggled on Opening Day today and was in trouble in every inning, but managed to get through five innings and allow just three runs on ten hits and a walk. He struck out three and walked one while throwing 96 pitches. Alfredo Figaro and Burke Badenhop followed Gallardo to the mound and combined to pitch three scoreless innings with four strikeouts in their respective Brewer debuts. Khris Davis also debuted as a pinch hitter in the ninth and grounded out.

Dexter Fowler singled to lead off the game for the Rockies, so the Brewers have now played 4137 games since their last no-hitter.

The first series of the year continues tomorrow when these two teams meet again at 7:10. Marco Estrada will face former Brewer Jorge De La Rosa.