MILWAUKEE — After going hitless in his first six at-bats Sunday, Milwaukee’s Gabe Kapler was ready to spend a long night at home pondering his poor play. Instead, he gave himself and the Brewers something to remember.

The reserve outfielder homered off the pole in left leading off the 13th inning and the Milwaukee Brewers came back from a late three-run deficit for a 5-4 victory over the Nationals.
“Today’s game was, overall, not a comfortable game from a personal standpoint,” he said. “I didn’t feel very good overall.”

In his first six at-bats, he went 0-for-6, striking out twice, reaching once on an error and only getting one ball out of the infield.

“I knew that barring something like that happening for me, I was probably going to go home and have a pretty rough night,” he said. “Now, I can go home and look forward to tomorrow. It’s a nice feeling.”

Kapler’s shot off Luis Ayala (1-8) was his first career walk-off homer and gave Milwaukee its fifth consecutive victory.

Ayala, who had just entered the game, has a 6.04 ERA.

The Brewers had chances to end it earlier, but stranded the winning run on second base in the ninth and 11th innings, and left the bases loaded in the 10th. The team was 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 16 on base.

Milwaukee fell behind 4-1 in the eighth when Eric Gagne allowed a two-run homer by Austin Kearns followed by a solo shot from Lastings Milledge.

The Brewers tied it in the bottom of the inning on Mike Rivera’s three-run double off closer Joel Hanrahan. Reliever Saul Rivera allowed a single to Bill Hall between walks to Prince Fielder and Mike Cameron to load the bases before being replaced by Hanrahan with two outs.

Rivera, making only his 12th start this year, drove the ball to the left field wall, allowing all three runners to score.

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