The Colorado Rockies beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 in 11 innings Wednesday as Brett Sullivan's walk-off single to left field scored two runs off reliever Grant Wolfram, erasing a two-run Baltimore lead in the bottom of the 11th.
The loss drops Baltimore to 69-71, two games back of the final American League wild-card spot, and gave Colorado (54-86) -- which entered the game with the worst record in baseball -- a series win against an Orioles team hoping to reach the postseason.
Baltimore built a 3-0 advantage in the third inning on a Pete Alonso RBI single and a Luis Robert Jr. two-run double, but Colorado answered with single runs in the third and fourth to pull within 3-2.
With Andrew Kittredge on the mound in the ninth, the Orioles were one out from a win, but the Rockies tied it when Zac Veen doubled on a poorly located slider to score Cole Carrigg. "We've been using him a lot," Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said of Kittredge, alluding that fatigue may have been a factor.
The blown save spoiled a great start from Trevor Rogers, who struck out a career-best 11 -- including six in a row -- over 6.2 innings while allowing just two earned runs. "It was probably the best fastball command in different parts of the strike zone that I've had all year," Rogers said.
A baserunning gaffe by Jackson Holliday derailed the O's scoring chances in the 10th.
To make things worse, Baltimore surged ahead again in the top of the 11th on RBI singles by Samuel Basallo and Blaze Alexander to lead 5-3, but the Rockies responded with three runs in the bottom half — capped by Sullivan's line drive that plated Rumfield and Adael Amador against Wolfram, who took the loss after surrendering three hits and two earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.
“This one hurts,” Albernaz said. “It’s tough, but it was a good road trip for us. We’re pumped to get back home, get in front of our fans, but ultimately good road trips right now are OK, but not good enough. When we have a lead, we’ve got to close it out.”
Robert, making his Orioles debut, drove in two runs and scored once, while Alexander went 3-for-5 with an RBI. "We played well enough to win a series," Alexander said.
Blas Castaño earned the win after tossing a scoreless inning despite allowing three hits. Former Oriole Tomoyuki Sugano went six innings for Colorado, allowing three earned runs and six hits.
The Orioles begin a four-game series at home against the Red Sox on Thursday, followed by a series wild-card competition Cleveland.
"We didn't get the job done today. We should have won the game, we didn't," Rogers, "We're all frustrated right now, but we got to flush it as soon an quick as we can. We have some really important ballgames... We're not out of it."