The Orioles preach how they’ve got to handle what they can control. That’s the first order of business. Nothing else approaches the importance of this task.

They let a game slip through their fingers today.

They went 6-3 on a road trip that favored them on paper. They failed to win four series in a row for the first time since June 2024 after the Rockies’ Brett Sullivan dumped a two-run walk-off single into left field with two outs and the count full in the 11th inning.

A 6-5 loss at Coors Field moved the Orioles two games behind for the third Wild Card. The Guardians are hosting the Blue Jays tonight.

Samuel Basallo began the 11th with an RBI single off Blas Castaño. Blaze Alexander also came through with a run-scoring single, his third hit of the day. Grant Wolfram let the inherited runner score, received a visit from assistant athletic trainer Ben Fraser and took the loss.

The game would have been tied again except Adael Amador’s ball in left-center field hopped the fence with two outs for a ground-rule double. The Orioles caught a break. But Sullivan singled on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, a 73.6 mph looping single.

Andrew Kittredge blew the save to carry the game to extras. Automatic runner Jackson Holliday was thrown out at third base on Pete Alonso’s groundball to short, but Alex Hoppe stranded two in the bottom of the 10th and was touching triple digits.

Yennier Cano stranded a runner on second base with two outs in the eighth, and Kittredge almost notched his 10th save.

As it turns out, he doesn’t have nine lives.

Hunter Goodman came within a beard hair of a game-tying home run leading off the ninth. An umpire review didn’t change the ruling.  

Cole Carrigg doubled off the top of the left field fence with two outs, the ball hitting the yellow stripe along the padding. Another deep sigh from Kittredge, but he surrendered an RBI double to pinch-hitter Zac Veen.

Colton Cowser spared Kittredge from surrendering a walk-off home run Monday with a spectacular leaping catch at the center field fence, but the Rockies finally got him.

Orioles pitchers struck out 17, but the team is two games below .500 again at 69-71.

Former Oriole Tomoyuki Sugano allowed three runs and six hits in six innings.

Here are some observations from home:

*Trevor Rogers pounded the zone and finished with a career-high 11 strikeouts with no walks in 6 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs and six hits, and Rico Garcia stranded the potential tying run at second base.

Seventy-one of Rogers’ 94 pitches were strikes. Six of his strikeouts came in succession over the fifth through seventh innings.

Rogers is the first Oriole with no walks and 11 strikeouts since Corbin Burnes on 2024 Opening Day.

*Alonso didn’t have an RBI in six consecutive games before stepping to the plate today in the third inning and lining a cutter into left field to score Alexander for a 1-0 lead.

The six-game stretch was Alonso’s longest since he went seven from July 18-25.

The rally began with Alexander’s leadoff single and Holliday’s one-out single.

Holliday also singled in the seventh inning. He had three hits last night, including a home run.

*Luis Robert Jr. made his Orioles debut and an immediate impact.

After flying out in his first at-bat, Robert came to the plate with two runners in scoring position and two outs in the third and doubled off the right field fence for a 3-0 lead. Robert swung at a high fastball out of the strike zone and it left his bat at 102.9 mph.

Robert hit his sixth August home run with the Mets on Aug. 25 but was 2-for-16 before the waiver claim.

*Holliday’s dropped popup last night in the seventh inning was a rare instance when the opposition caught a break. It doesn’t happen much anymore.

Rogers couldn’t produce a shutdown inning today, but the damage turned out to be minimal.

Amador led off the bottom of the third with a single and Rogers struck out the next two  batters. Jake McCarthy tripled to right-center field and he tried to score when Alexander’s throw skipped past Coby Mayo, but Rogers backed up the play and fired the ball to Basallo.

McCarthy was ruled safe, Basallo immediately pointed to the dugout for a challenge, and the call was overturned. McCarthy’s lead foot cleared the plate. A proper slide probably cuts the lead to 3-2.

The Rockies did it by manufacturing a run the next inning. Goodman doubled with one out, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Carrigg’s 65.1 mph roller up the third base line.

*Left-hander Nick Raquet cleared unconditional release waivers today and was let go by the Orioles. They designated him for assignment yesterday to create room on the 40-man roster.

Raquet was on the minor league injured list after experiencing elbow pain in his last outing with Triple-A Norfolk.

*High-A Frederick utility player RJ Austin underwent left hand hamate excision surgery this week with Dr. Doug Carlan in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Austin, 25, was a third-round pick in the 2025 draft out of Vanderbilt University. He was batting a combined .270/.372/.444 with eight doubles, five triples, eight homers, 31 RBIs and 34 stolen bases in 40 attempts with Class A Delmarva (three games) and Frederick (62).