Rockies' resilience on display again, but unreal rally comes up just short

MINNEAPOLIS -- For eight innings Friday night at Target Field, the Rockies looked like they were completely out of answers, buried under a seven-run deficit while the offense couldn't get anything going.

Then came a chaotic final stretch that turned the series opener completely upside down, before Colorado ultimately fell to the Twins, 9-8, in 10 innings.

The late-game surge briefly put Colorado ahead after starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano allowed seven runs on eight hits across five innings. Sugano struggled with his command early, surrendering a two-run homer to Kody Clemens in the first inning and another two-run blast to Brooks Lee in the second.

After falling behind 4-0, Sugano settled down to pitch clean third and fourth frames by adjusting his approach on the mound.

"I was thinking, 'Try to get ahead of counts,'" Sugano explained through interpreter Yuto Sakurai. "So I think that led to good results."

However, that rhythm dissipated in the fifth. After getting the first two outs, the Twins tagged Sugano for three consecutive extra-base hits, including RBI doubles by Byron Buxton and Josh Bell, to push the lead to 7-0.

"In the fifth, the runs I gave up were after two outs," Sugano noted. "After two outs, I was consistently behind in counts. So that was sort of unfortunate."

Colorado's bullpen kept the Twins quiet for the next three frames, combining for three scoreless innings to keep the game within reach while the offense slowly chipped away. In the top of the eighth, Ezequiel Tovar hit a leadoff double and scored on a Mickey Moniak groundout before Hunter Goodman added a sacrifice fly and TJ Rumfield ripped an RBI single to cut the deficit to 7-3.

In the ninth, the Rockies mounted a stunning rally against Minnesota's bullpen, continuing a recent trend of late-game resilience.

Cole Carrigg drew a leadoff walk against Twins reliever Eric Orze, and Edouard Julien followed with an RBI double to center to make it 7-4. Moments later, Jake McCarthy hit a two-run homer to right-center field, pulling the Rockies within a run.

The Twins turned to left-hander Anthony Banda, but pinch-hitter Kyle Karros kept the rally alive with a double down the left-field line. With two outs, Goodman launched a go-ahead, two-run home run into the left-field seats, giving the Rockies an improbable 8-7 lead.

"We keep fighting every night. That's no surprise to me," manager Warren Schaeffer said of the late-inning surge. "They believe, that's the biggest part. And they keep coming. Boy, huge homer by Jake, Kyle off the bench with a double and then Goody, the huge bomb, but just couldn't hold on to that."

The advantage didn't last long. In the bottom of the ninth, the Twins fought back against Antonio Senzatela, aided by a tough-hop single from Buxton that drove in the game-tying run to knot the score at 8 and force extra innings.

Colorado missed an opportunity to reclaim the lead in the top of the 10th when automatic runner Tyler Freeman was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice. In the bottom of the frame, the Twins capitalized. Jimmy Herget intentionally walked Victor Caratini to set up a potential double play, but a wild pitch moved the runners over before Royce Lewis laced a walk-off single to center field to seal the victory for Minnesota.

Despite the frustrating finish, Schaeffer remains confident in his team's late-game identity.

"When you get late in a game like that, you just continue to grind," Schaeffer said. "Tonight, it just didn't work out. But you keep doing that over and over and over again, it's going to be good stuff for a while."