For almost the entirety of Sunday's game between the Oakland Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles, it appeared as though Bartolo Colon was going to steamroll his way to yet another impressive win. That all changed in a hurry, as the A's gave up five runs to the home team in the bottom of the ninth, in what ended up being a walk-off 5-2 loss.
The game had no score until the top of the sixth inning, when Yoenis Cespedes doubled home Josh Reddick with two outs. In the top of the seventh, Seth Smith hit a leadoff homer to put Oakland on top, 2-0.
Colon was rolling until the bottom of the ninth inning. He allowed a leadoff single and struck out Nick Markakis, but managed a throwing error on another single to put the tying runs in scoring position with one out. Closer Grant Balfour was brought in to record the final two outs of the game, but served up a Matt Wieters double that tied the game. The A's intentionally walked Chris Davis to pitch to Wilson Betemit ... who hit a three-run homer to right-center field to give the O's the victory.
In all, Colon went 8.1 innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out five while allowing just one walk. He had allowed just five hits and no runs until the bottom of the ninth. This is Balfour's second blown save and first loss of the season.
Oakland loses the series, two games to one, dropping to 11-12. The Orioles improve to a great 14-8 with the win.
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