"As Ryan Braun went back toward the wall, he knew he had a beat on the ball and believed he could make a play on it to save the game.

And for a split second, Kameron Loe, the pitcher who served the pitch, and Yovani Gallardo, the starter that got the Milwaukee Brewers into the eighth inning, thought the leftfielder actually came up with the catch.

But as Braun fell to the warning track and the crowd paused to determine the ball's location, Troy Tulowitzki rounded the bases and a moment after the initial uncertainty, the crowd erupted and the Brewers were deflated as Tulowitzki hit a three-run home run that bounced off Braun's glove in the eighth inning to win the game for the Colorado Rockies, 5-4.

"When I went up I felt I had a good chance to catch it," said Braun, who deflected the ball with the tip of his glove before if bounced over the wall. "I wasn't quite able to get to it.

"It seems like for us as a team when things aren't going well close calls, borderline plays seem to go the way of the opponent. Tonight was the epitome of that.

"We played well enough to win this game but at the same time you have to give them some credit. They battled back against our best pitcher."

Gallardo, the pitcher Braun spoke of, gave the Brewers seven strong innings, allowing two runs, and was at 98 pitches before the eighth. Manager Ken Macha asked Gallardo if he felt strong enough to pitch the eighth and Gallardo said he did.

But he walked Todd Helton to start it and then gave up an opposite-field double to Carlos Gonzalez before Macha took him out and brought in Loe to face Tulowitzki.

"At this altitude, the sinker definitely doesn't sink as much as it usually does," Loe said. "You get used to throwing a pitch in a certain area and expect it to move a certain way, but if you're not used to pitching in this thin air, it just didn't move. Maybe we should have gone away. Maybe we should have thrown a slider."

With two lefties in Helton and Gonzalez, Macha could have gone to Chris Capuano or Zach Braddock, his left-handed relievers, but he elected to stay with Gallardo."