Colton Cowser's leaping catch saves O's amid wild-card race - ESPN

DENVER — Colton Cowser made a spectacular leaping catch above the center-field fence for the final out, robbing Jake McCarthy of a game-winning homer and preserving the Baltimore Orioles' 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.

«That's the best play I've ever seen in person,» Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said.

With a runner on second base and two outs in the ninth inning, McCarthy sent a drive to deep center. Cowser raced back and jumped, spreading his legs wide as he banged into the wall and pulled back the ball in his outstretched glove from well above and behind the fence to the right of the 415-foot sign.

After hanging on as he crash-landed onto the warning track, Cowser pumped his arms and shouted in excitement before celebrating with teammates.

«I don't know if I can put it in PG,» Albernaz said about what he said in the dugout. «I use the word 'tight' every time someone makes a really good play out there, that's what we say. There were some other expletives going on in there, and rightfully so.»

«I could kind of tell off the bat Cowser had a really good bead on it,» said Andrew Kittredge, who earned his ninth save. «But I didn't think he was going to make a play like that.»

«Situation and probably level of difficulty, yes,» Cowser said about whether it was the catch of his life. «But I had one still, it was in Triple A in Norfolk on a 10-foot wall that I was able to rob. So, but that one was — this one was better, for sure.»

Cade Povich pitched five solid innings and Cowser drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh following a 98-minute rain delay at Coors Field.

«Incredible. Gutsy,» Povich said of Cowser's catch. «To go up and make the grab, it's just one of those plays that, if you see it in