The Sky Sox did everything necessary to mount another come-from-behind victory Thursday night — everything, that is, except stop Fresno from scoring runs.

Colorado Springs runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings were only enough to tie it, and Jake Wald doubled in the winner for the Grizzlies in the 11th as the Sky Sox fell 7-6.

Wald’s double — his third game-winning hit in extra innings this year — came off side-armer Matt Wilhite.

“That was two guys in row coming in at a tough angle,” said Wald, who was a Ryan Speier strikeout victim in the ninth. “I was just looking for a fastball up in the zone, something that I could drive. Fortunately I got one and put the good part of the bat on it.”

These games have typically gone in favor of the first-place Sky Sox (51-40), but an uncharacteristically leaky bullpen turned the Grizzlies (46-45) into the rabbit they couldn’t quite catch.

Jason Hirsh gave up runs in the seventh and eighth as he made his first relief appearance since losing his spot in the rotation and Ben Julianel coughed up another in the eight without recording an out.

Speier and Wilhite seemed to restore order, but a two-out walk came back to haunt Wilhite in his second inning.

“That one walk set things up for that two-out double,” Sky Sox manager Stu Cole said. “Sometimes you’ve just got to give them credit.”

Four hits and a walk in a two-run ninth helped the Sky Sox work a tie. It was almost more, but Cole decided to hold Mike McCoy at third when Fresno right fielder Brian Horwitz fell down after fielding a Chris Frey single.

McCoy, running from first on contact with two outs, thought he might have been able to score. Cole played it conservatively after Horwitz regained his balance and was in position to make a throw.

“It would have been close,” McCoy said.

Cole didn’t regret the decision and he wasn’t lamenting a loss that came after his offense showed more late-inning moxie.

“It’s been like that since I’ve been here and it was like that before I was here,” Cole said. “You keep battling like that and good things are going to happen for you.”

MAJOR LEAGUE MOMENT

Sky Sox shortstop Mike McCoy was welcomed back from the All-Star break with a test on the very first play of the game — and he passed it with no sign of rust. McCoy ranged far to his left to snag a sharply hit ground ball from Fresno’s Eugenio Velez, spun and threw out the fleet-footed Velez from the edge of the outfield grass behind second base.

Sky Sox shortstop Mike McCoy tracked down the ball hit by Fresno’s Eugenio Velez and threw him out Thursday. Photo by KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE