BALTIMORE — The Rockies are struggling mightily in the school of hard knocks.
Despite a solid start from right-hander Chris Flexen, despite an early 2-0 lead, and despite an eighth-inning rally, the Rockies once again failed the test. They fell, 5-4, to the Orioles Saturday night before a raucous sellout crowd of 42,535 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The Rockies, relying more and more on young players, have dropped six consecutive games and have lost 10 straight on the road. It’s their second 10-game road losing streak of the season.
Flexen, throwing a killer changeup, was excellent through his first five innings. He struck out a season-high seven — getting strike threes on six changeups — and he yielded just one unearned run.
“It felt really good tonight and I’ve continued to work on it,” Flexen said of his changeup. “I’ve been struggling early on with it, so I’ve continued to put in the work. It’s always been a big part of my arsenal when I throw it for strikes and I was able to do that tonight.”
Manager Bud Black said he wants the changeup to be Flexen’s go-to pitch.
“It took him a couple of innings to get there (tonight), but I’ve always maintained that his best stuff is his fastball-change combination, and then mixing in his cutter-slider and a couple of curveballs. But I think his change is really good. It got him out of a couple of jams and got him some strikeouts.”
But the Orioles, a great come-from-behind team all season, won their 40th game in that fashion. They scored three runs in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead. American League rookie-of-the-year candidate Gunnar Henderson led off with a sharp single to left and Anthony Santander followed up with another single to left.
Black came out to the mound, chatted with Flexen and then decided to call on rookie right-handed reliever Tommy Doyle. Ryan Mountcastle drove Doyle’s 1-0 cutter into the left field for a two-run double, and then advanced to third on Ryan O’Hearn’s groundout to second. Austin Hays scored Mountcastle with a groundout to shortstop Ezequiel Tovar.
Baltimore extended the lead to 5-2 in the seventh against lefty Evan Justice, who made his major league debut. Justice walked Jordan Westburg on four pitches to begin his career but then fanned Adley Rutschman and Henderson. Justice’s fastball showed a lot of life, topping out at 96.4 mph, but Santander ripped a first-pitch, RBI double to left to score Westburg, extending the lead.
The Orioles needed the wiggle room because the Rockies scored twice in the eighth, combining a leadoff walk by Ryan McMahon, an RBI double by Elias Diaz, a single by Nolan Jones and a run-scoring double off the bat of Brendan Rodgers to trim the lead to 5-4.
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