Rockies rally from seven-run deficit, but can’t close deal in 9-8 defeat in 10 innings

MINNEAPOLIS — Rockies Report, Game 82:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Manager Warren Schaeffer will often tell how his team “battles.” And Friday night, they did so once again, roaring back from a 7-0 deficit with three eighth-inning runs and five more in the ninth, powered by a pair of two-run homers from Jake McCarthy and Hunter Goodman — the latter of which landed in Target Field’s third deck and was — per Statcast and relayed by Sarah Langs — the hardest-hit homer by a Rockies batter in a decade.

THIS TEAM!!!! pic.twitter.com/0WfEe4U32M

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 27, 2026

But all it took was one awful bounce to turn what could have been the Rockies’ most scintillating comeback of the season to date into a soul-crushing loss.

That bad hop — on a Byron Buxton grounder down the third-base line that soared over Willi Castro’s glove and into left field — allowed the Minnesota Twins to re-knot the game in the bottom of the ninth, scoring Luke Keaschall from second base.

“That wasn’t a good hop, no doubt. But it happens,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said.

And in the 10th, the Twins finished off the Rox on Royce Lewis’ ground-ball single off Jimmy Herget, which scored pinch runner Kyler Fedko from first base and sealed a 9-8 defeat in front of 27,317 at Target Field.

Lewis’ game-winning hit came three pitches after Schaeffer elected to intentionally walk leadoff batter Victor Caratini in the hopes of setting up a double play after the Rox went scoreless in the top of the inning when automatic runner Tyler Freeman was easily gunned down when he ran on contact of Ezequiel Tovar’s infield grounder.

“You’re having Jimmy fave a right-hander. If that ball doesn’t scoot away, that’s a double-play ball,” Schaeffer said of Lewis’ hit.

The sour ending didn’t eliminate what the Rockies did right in sprinting back from a 7-0 hole heading into the eighth inning. Minnesota starter Taj Bradley had squelched the Rockies offense to that point, holding them to just two hits in the first seven innings.

But Tovar and Edouard Julien opened the eighth with a double and a walk, opening the door for the Twins’ balky bullpen to take over. And the Rockies pounced, scoring three times in the eighth via a bases-loaded groundout, a Goodman sacrifice fly and a TJ Rumfield single.

Then came the ninth, continuing the Rockies’ comeback penchant. They rallied late for wins Monday and Wednesday against Boston.

Wow. Rockies battle all the way back from a 7-0 eighth-inning deficit to take the lead. Hunter Goodman’s third-deck HR puts the Rox in front. Boo-birds are howling at Target Field pic.twitter.com/ac5LXFeeEU

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) June 27, 2026

Colorado fell to 32-50. Last year, the team hit 50 losses after just 59 games. That’s another sign of progress, even on a night that ended in excruciating fashion.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

The success equation for Tomoyuki Sugano since he jumped across the Pacific Ocean to Major League Baseball last year is simple: If he allows home runs, make sure they come with the basepaths clear. That’s because homers are part and parcel of his work; he entered Friday’s play with the third-highest HR/9 rate of any of the 128 pitchers to throw at least 150 innings over the last two seasons.

Surrendering two home runs in the first two innings — one each to Kody Clemens and Brooks Lee — wasn’t that unusual. But in both cases, the bombs immediately followed singles, leaving the Rox in a 4-0 hole after two innings.

Sugano rallied to retire nine-consecutive Twins, but with two outs in the fifth inning, he fell behind 2-0 to Trevor Lamach and surrendered a double, the first of four-straight Minnesota batters to reach base. Three runs came home, and Sugano left after five innings with seven runs on his ledger.

The late rally took him off the hook. Through an interpreter, he attributed the fifth-inning outburst to falling behind in counts — a contrast to his efficient work in the third and fourth innings, when he recorded six outs in 17 pitches.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Lewis singled off Herget to drive in Fedko and seal the Rockies’ fate.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 19 — The number of eighth-and-ninth inning runs scored by the Rox over their last five games. “When you get late in the game like that, you just continue to grind. You have the decision to make: Do you want to just roll over, or do you want to keep going and try to win the ballgame? Every night, the guys do that. They make the right decision to keep going. Tonight, it just didn’t work out, but if you keep doing that over and over again, it’s gonna be good stuff for a while.”

WHAT’S NEXT: Michael Lorenzen hopes to keep up his Target Field form as he gets the call; he has a career 1.93 ERA in two appearances in downtown Minneapolis. Mike Paredes will start for the Twins. First pitch is set for 5:10 p.m. MDT.

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