For the second straight night, the Colorado Rockies played the Los Angeles Dodgers even until the last batter of the game, this time forcing extra innings.
Hyung-Jin Ryu came into the game as the presumptive National League starter for the All-Star game, sporting an ERA of 1.26, having walked just five hitters all year.
Peter Lambert went toe-to-toe with him admirably but again the key moments late went for the Dodgers who walked off on a homer for a second consecutive game.
The Rockies took the lead with an early strike in the first against Ryu. Ian Desmond doubled with one away and was cashed in with a two-out single from Nolan Arenado who produced an amazing contact swing on a breaking ball below the zone.
The Dodgers struck back in the second against Lambert on a double from Max Muncy and singles by Chris Taylor and Matt Beatty. But the rookie was able to limit the damage and keep the game tied.
He also responded by getting a rally started to retake the lead at the top of the third, leading off with a groundball single down the right-field line.
Colorado then caught a break when a Charlie Blackmon grounder was mishandled on an exchange at second base, leaving everyone safe.
Desmond did it again getting a single to put his club back in front.
David Dahl struck out and Arenado walked to load the bases when the Rockies got some more good fortune. Daniel Murphy fired at the first pitch he saw and rolled it over to second but Joc Pederson couldn’t handle the relay throw for the double play to be turned to be turned and the Rockies plated another run, taking a 3-1 lead.
Again the Dodgers answered and again Lambert did not break. Alex Verdugo doubled and Justin Turner singled to open the frame but Lambert recovered to retire the next three in order and preserve the 3-2 lead.
Beatty opened the fourth with a double but Lambert picked him off with a fantastic move then worked around a fielding error from Brendan Rodgers to send it to the fifth.
Desmond led that inning off with his third hit in the game but he, too, got picked off and the frame went nowhere.
Verdugo made the Rockies regret it even more by leading off the fifth with his sixth homer of the season, tying the game at 3-3.
For the third time in the game, Lambert bounced back by getting three quick outs.
Jake McGee matched a clean inning from Ryu in the sixth before Raimel Tapia untied the game with a pinch-hit homer in the seventh.
He stayed back on an 0-2 breaking ball from left Caleb Furgeson and blasted it over the wall in left-center field for his sixth home run of the season.
Bryan Shaw worked the seventh and gave up a one-out single to Pederson but that was it, punctuating the inning with a strikeout of Turner.
He stayed on for the eighth and gave up a leadoff double to Cody Bellinger. A groundout from Muncy moved him to third but Shaw won a battle against Taylor, striking him out on the ninth pitch away.
One pitch away from escaping with the lead and stranding the runner at third, he left a cutter up to Beaty who singled on a shallow fly to left, tying the game at 4-4.
Bud Black went to Carlos Estevez to get the final out of the inning. He did so and stayed in the game after the Rockies went down in order in the top of the ninth.
He began the bottom half with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Kyle Garlick before surerrendrring back-to-back singles to Pederson and Verdugo, put the potential winning run in scoring position.
But he unleashed a flurry of fastballs at 98 and 99 mph to strike out Turner and Bellinger to send the game to extras.
It was time for more tense moments from Wade Davis in the 10th but he worked out of a jam created by two walks and a single by inducing a double play and striking out Austin Barnes to send the game to an 11th inning.
All the Rockies got in the top half was a two-out walk from pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds and Black turned to rookie Jesus Tinoco in the bottom half.
He got a quick out but then found too much of the zone on a fastball to Verdugo who lifted it to right for the game-winning home run.
