DENVER (AP) — By the late innings, the Milwaukee Brewers just wanted the game to end.
That took a while, though.
Already relegated to an NL wild-card spot, the Brewers lost to the Colorado Rockies 4-3 Sunday when Jake Faria threw a wild pitch in the 13th inning that allowed the winning run to score.
"It got to a point where it was irrelevant today," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "So it was finish the game."
The Brewers will play at Washington on Tuesday night in the wild-card game. The winner advances to take on the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
A day after closer Josh Hader gave up a tying home run in the ninth inning and the Brewers lost in the 10th, Milwaukee began the day one game behind St. Louis for the NL Central lead.
St. Louis took a big lead early, and the Brewers began freely substituting as the Cardinals finished off a 9-0 win over the Cubs.
"It's easy to look forward because we got a huge game and a fun game. I think it started really when the Cubs game got finalized. That's when it starts," Counsell said.
"You kind of saw once they got a big early lead, we started taking some guys out. So it impacted decisions, for sure," he said.
Counsell declined to say who would start for the matchup against Max Scherzer and the Nationals.
"We'll have an announcement but not right now," he said.
Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run homer for Milwaukee and Hernan Perez had a pinch-hit homer. Milwaukee finished the regular season at 89-73, down from going 96-67 last year and winning the NL Central.
Dom Nunez homered for Colorado, which again scored the tying run in the ninth and swept the three-game series.
Faria (0-1) walked Sam Hilliard to start the Rockies 13th and Yonathan Daza then laid down a bunt single. Second baseman Keston Hiura collided with first base umpire Brian Gorman as he rushed to cover the bag, and catcher Manny Pina's throw sailed down the line, allowing Hilliard to reach third.
With pinch-hitter Ian Desmond at the plate, Faria threw a pitch into the dirt that skipped past Pina, letting Hilliard to score.
Bryan Shaw (3-2) picked up the win with a scoreless inning.
Milwaukee loaded the bases with none out in the 11th but failed to score, with Ben Gamel thrown out at the plate trying to score on a pitch in the dirt that rolled past the catcher but was quickly retrieved. DJ Johnson then struck out Pina and Perez.
Trailing 3-2 heading into the ninth, the Rockies evened the score after Raimel Tapia reached on first baseman Tyler Austin's two-base fielding error and scored on Pat Valaika's single.