A's rally to hand Rockies 7th straight loss, 10-8

DENVER – The Colorado Rockies got just enough from their starting pitcher Wednesday night. This time it was their bullpen that let them down.

Brandon Inge hit a go-ahead, two-run double during a three-run ninth inning against closer Rafael Betancourt, and the Oakland Athletics rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies 10-8.

Todd Helton hit a grand slam and Michael Cuddyer had two homers among his four hits for the Rockies, who lost their season-high seventh straight.

"It's a tough loss, no doubt about it," Helton said. "We can react one of two ways: We can put our heads down and feel sorry for ourselves or we can come out tomorrow ready to play.

"Hopefully we do the latter. It's gut-check time to see what were made of."

Down 8-7 heading into the ninth, Coco Crisp singled leading off against Betancourt (1-2). Jemile Woods sacrificed Crisp to second, and Crisp stole third before scoring the tying run on Collin Cowgill's sacrifice fly.

Former Rockie Seth Smith hit a two-out double, Josh Reddick, hitting for reliever Jerry Blevins (1-0), was walked intentionally and Inge followed by lashing a double down the left field line to leave the Rockies winless in eight interleague games this season.

"I don't think I made good pitches and they scored three runs on me," Betancourt said. "It's not a good feeling."

Ryan Cook allowed Cuddyer's leadoff single — his fourth hit — in the bottom of the ninth before getting three outs — the first two on a double play — for his second save in three chances.

"I've been through a lot of these games and there's nothing you can do about it," Betancourt said. "All you can do is come back tomorrow, but it's not good a feeling."

Things looked good early for Colorado.

After Smith put the A's in front 2-0 in the first with a two-run homer, the Rockies came right back in their half of the first, capped by Helton's seventh career slam and second this season.

Marco Scutaro singled around walks to Dexter Fowler and Cuddyer before Helton drove a 77 mph curveball from Tommy Milone into the A's bullpen beyond the center field fence for his seventh homer of the season.

Jordan Pacheco then singled and Chris Nelson was walked intentionally to get to pitcher Josh Outman, who singled to left for his first major league hit and RBI.

Cuddyer hit his first homer in the second to give the Rockies a 6-2 lead.

The A's pulled to 6-5 in the fourth, getting an RBI single from Inge and a two-run drive from Brandon Moss, his third homer in two games.

"This ballpark, no lead's comfortable," A's outfielder Jonny Gomes said.

Colorado rebuilt its lead to 8-5 in the fourth when Cuddyer connected for a second time off Milone. The two-run drive gave Cuddyer his first multihomer game as a member of the Rockies, the team he joined in the offseason as a free agent.

Trailing by three runs, the A's narrowed the deficit when Gomes led off the sixth by homering off reliever Adam Ottovino. They pulled within one run in the seventh when Cliff Pennington reached on Scutaro's errant throw from shortstop and came around to score on Cowgill's RBI single.

"It was just the way it goes with a team like ours that is otherwise playing pretty good baseball," Outman said. "We just can't catch a break. Every time we make a mistake it gets magnified."

Scutaro also tied a career-best with four hits in a game in which the teams combined for 23 hits, including six home runs.

NOTES: Outman went five innings and allowed five runs and six hits. ... Troy Tulowitzki's rehab program was put on hold Wednesday after the Rockies SS aggravated a left groin strain that has sidelined him for the last two weeks. Team officials say no decision has been made on when Tulowitzki will resume his rehab work. ... The Rockies have hit five grand slams this season, tying the New York Yankees for the most in the major leagues. ... Cuddyer's multihomer game was the seventh of his career and first since Aug. 3 against the Los Angeles Angels while with Minnesota.