The Brewers badly needed a win, and Rowdy Tellez and Tyrone Taylor came up clutch to provide it

The Milwaukee Brewers were in serious danger of continuing their slip-and-slide through the Arizona desert on Saturday night.

For the third game in a row, the Brewers trailed the Arizona Diamondbacks in the top of the ninth inning while desperately needing to make up critical ground in their chase to grab a playoff spot.

With a chance to gain ground on the two teams ahead of them in the National League wild card standings, the Brewers had three times surrendered a lead and trailed, 6-5, with Diamondbacks closer Ian Kennedy on the mound.

That’s when Rowdy Tellez provided a lift. Then, Tyrone Taylor finished the job.

Box score: Brewers 8, Diamondbacks 6 (10 innings)

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Tellez’s tying home run in the ninth sent the game to extras, and Taylor’s leadoff two-run homer in the top of the 10th sent the Brewers to a direly-needed 8-6 win over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Milwaukee drew to within 2½ games of the Philadelphia Phillies, who lost on Saturday, for the final wild card spot. It also drew within 3½ of the San Diego Padres, who also lost.

Three times on Saturday, the Brewers offense took the lead in the top half of an inning with Corbin Burnes on the mound. Each time, the Brewers ace gave it right back.

The toughest pill to swallow came in the final of those three comebacks by the Diamondbacks, who strung together four consecutive two-out hits to produce three runs and flip the game in their favor in the sixth.

With his pitch count sitting at 103, Burnes allowed a single with two outs and none on to Emmanuel Rivera. Manager Craig Counsell opted to keep Burnes in the game and on pitch number 110 of the day, he surrendered a run-scoring double to former Brewers farmhand Cooper Hummel.

That ended Burnes’ outing but not Arizona’s rally as Geraldo Perdomo and Josh Rojas dumped consecutive RBI singles to center field off reliever Brad Boxberger to make it a 6-4 lead.

Burnes’ final line read 5⅔ innings and five runs (all earned) on seven hits and three walks. The righthander eclipsed 200 strikeouts on the season with five Saturday night but, overall, it was another subpar outing from Burnes, who has allowed 17 runs over his last three starts.

The first of the Brewers' blown leads came in the second. After Victor Caratini snapped a 3-for-42 skid with a two-run double in the top half, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases in their turn at the plate and pushed one run across on a Daulton Varsho sacrifice fly.

The Brewers reclaimed the lead when a two-out error by second baseman Josh Rojas allowed Willy Adames to score from third, but a miscue on the bases cost them a chance at more runs.  Earlier in the inning, Andrew McCutchen was thrown out at the plate on a double by Adames with nobody out.

Varsho tied the score in the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer off Burnes, but Taylor responded with a solo blast of his own to put the Brewers up, 4-3, in the top of the sixth.

Following Arizona’s three-run sixth, the Brewers chipped away late against the host’s bullpen.

First, a two-out single from McCutchen scored Jace Peterson from second after the Brewers challenged the initial out call on the field.

Then, Tellez came on as a pinch hitter in the ninth for Luis Urias and roped a 1-2 offering from Kennedy for a homer to right-center. It was Tellez’s third tying home run in the ninth inning this season, all coming since August 10.

Devin Williams threw a clean bottom of the ninth, setting up Taylor to put the Brewers back in front by crushing a two-strike slider from lefthander Joe Mantiply way out to left-center.

Staked to their fourth lead of the game, the Brewers wouldn’t give it back this time. Taylor Rogers shut the door without allowing a base runner to notch the save.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Home runs by Rowdy Tellez, Tyrone Taylor lead comeback win for Brewers