Frankie Montas was dominant on Friday night, save for one mistake.

And that mistake was as costly as they come.

Michael Toglia’s three-run home run in the sixth inning overshadowed a 10-strikeout performance by Montas and continued the Milwaukee Brewers’ struggles as they fell, 3-2, to the woeful Colorado Rockies at American Family Field.

"It sucks that we've lost the last three games," Montas said. "But nobody in here is going to put their head down. Everybody in here is just going to try to do their part, come back tomorrow and come back to what we are.

"Try to win a ballgame."

Despite Colorado starting Ryan Feltner, who entered with a 1-10 record and 5.11 ERA, Milwaukee's offense remained in a funk and generated just four hits in total, and none for extra bases.

BOX SCORE: Rockies 3, Brewers 2

The Rockies – 52-89 and 32 ½ games out of the lead in the National League West coming in – managed only three hits in beating Milwaukee for the third time in five meetings on the year.

There was a spot of positive news for the Brewers, however, as their magic number to clinch the Central crown dropped to 12 with a Chicago Cubs loss to the New York Yankees earlier in the day.

"We've hit a swoon," manager Pat Murphy said. "We're competitive in every game. Sure, it's disappointing, but we're right there, and that bodes well. Now things are kind of going against us, but we're not playing horrible and the Rockies just beat the Braves in Atlanta."

A rookie mistake proves costly

Things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth when Jake Bauers drew a one-out walk. Rookie Brewer Hicklen, with just six games of major-league experience under his belt and only one since mid-July of 2022, then promptly stole second.

Rhys Hoskins followed with a fly ball to medium-depth center field on which Hicklen tagged and tried to go to third. But Brenton Doyle's throw to Ryan McMahon at third was on the money, and Hicklen was called out to end it.

The Brewers challenged, but the out call was upheld.

"In our scout meeting we talked about Doyle's arm, Nolan Jones's arm as being exceptional," Murphy said. "We have a board up in the dugout that lets the players look as they walk by, they see, 'OK, this guy can really throw.' It's unusual to have a red card. That means you can't go.

"They're both red cards. Ill-advised. What's more worth it? Bringing the next guy to the plate or getting to third for the benefit of a wild pitch? It's definitely ill-advised."

Hicklen, who put up the first 20-homer, 40-stolen base season in Class AAA Nashville's history prior to his callup, shouldered the blame for the mistake.

"I knew going into the game I wanted to get into scoring position. Did that," he said. "Rhys hit a fly ball to center field, looked at (first-base coach Quintin Berry) and tried to get a vibe; we knew they have good arms in center field. I thought I saw (rightfielder) Jordan Beck breaking down to catch it.

"(Doyle) ended up calling him off and caught it with some flat feet. Looking back, you'd like to not make that mistake but I always play the game aggressive. Just one of those learning moments. I hate that it cost us, but I'll learn from it."

Offense keeps chipping away

With Feltner out of the game, hard-throwing righty Seth Halvorsen entered and overpowered the first two batters he faced with triple-digit heat.

Blake Perkins connected for a single, however, then stole second to move into scoring position for Joey Ortiz. He, in turn, sent a chopper up the middle for a single that second baseman Aaron Schunk fielded but made an off-balance throw on that got past Michael Toglia at first.

Perkins then scored, drawing the Brewers to within 3-2.

Aaron Ashby, who took over for Montas in the sixth, continued his stellar work out of the Brewers' bullpen and ran his string of scoreless appearances to five straight by blanking the Rockies over his three frames.

A mixed bag for Frankie Montas

The right-hander's season high for strikeouts coming in was nine, accomplished in seven innings on June 4 and against these same Rockies (but at that time Montas was pitching for the Reds).

He had tied that mark in his first five innings in this one, and had recorded the first out in the sixth inning before things took a drastic turn.

The trouble began when Ezequiel Tovar lined a double just over the head of Jackson Chourio in left field for Colorado's first hit. McMahon followed by drawing a walk, and two batters later Montas left a first-pitch slider out over the heart of the plate that Toglia blasted out to center to put Milwaukee in a 3-1 hole.

"Definitely not the result I was expecting. Especially with how the night started," Montas said. "I thought I was throwing the ball really well. It was just one pitch. It feels like it's the same thing – always one pitch.

"Besides that, there were a lot of positive things, too."

Montas (6-10) struck out Nolan Jones to finish the inning and hit double digits in that category for the 10th time in his career and first time since May 26, 2022.

"As soon as I got here, they've done nothing but help me improve my game," Montas said of the Brewers. "I definitely feel like I'm moving on the right path."

Early lead for the Brewers

Bauers drew a one-out walk, stole second and came around to score on a Ortiz single to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead in the second.

Perkins also walked and Ortiz stole a base in the frame, but Milwaukee could manage nothing more than a lone Hoskins single against Feltner.

Feltner departed after six innings and 95 pitches having walked three and struck out six.

Brewers time, TV, radio

The Brewers game starts at 5:10 p.m. Friday.

TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620 and a state network.

Brewers lineup

• Brice Turang 2B

• Jackson Chourio LF

• William Contreras C

• Garrett Mitchell RF

• Willy Adames SS

• Jake Bauers 1B

• Rhys Hoskins DH

• Blake Perkins CF

• Joey Ortiz 3B

Rockies lineup

• Ezequiel Tovar SS

• Ryan McMahon 3B

• Brenton Doyle CF

• Michael Toglia 1B

• Nolan Jones DH

• Jacob Stallings C

• Sam Hilliard LF

• Jordan Beck RF

• Aaron Schunk 2B

Brewers schedule

Brewers vs. Rockies, 6:10 p.m. Saturday. Milwaukee RHP Tobias Myers (6-5, 3.00) vs. TBA. TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.

Brewers vs. Rockies, 1:10 p.m. Sunday. Milwaukee RHP Freddy Peralta (10-7, 3.75) vs. TBA. TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Rockies 3, Brewers 2: Frankie Montas made one bad pitch, and it was costly