After going 0-for-6, Kapler comes to rescue for Brewers

After going hitless in his first 6 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 3-run deficit for a 5-4 victory over the Nationals in Milwaukee.

"Today's game was, overall, not a comfortable game from a personal standpoint," Kapler said. "I didn't feel very good overall."

In his first 6 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.

"We can't even hide him now," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "He comes into situations like this and he's just not making pitches."

Starting for the injured Ryan Braun, Kapler watched intently from near the plate as the ball hit the pole, then quickly jogged around the bases.

"At first I thought it was going to stay fair for sure, then I saw it had kind of had a little lean to it," he said. "I wasn't positive whether it would stay fair. I'm glad it did."

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 2-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 3-run double off closer Joel Hanrahan.

D'backs 6, Braves 1: Brandon Webb threw 6 strong innings for his major-league-leading 17th win and also hit a 2-run double to lead host Arizona to a victory over Atlanta.

Chris Snyder homered for the Diamondbacks, who snapped a four-game losing streak to remain in first place in the NL West.

Webb (17-4) was effective if not sharp, allowing 1 run and 6 hits over 6 innings with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts and throwing 62 of 96 pitches for strikes. It was his shortest outing since putting together three straight 6-inning starts June 28 through July 8.