The Rockies and Dodgers were tied at 7 heading into the ninth inning, but Wade Davis gave up three runs, including a nail-in-the-coffin two-run home run to Yasmani Grandal. Los Angeles’s 10-7 win completed the Coors Field sweep for the Dodgers. This loss coupled with the Diamondbacks’ win against the Marlins also means the Rockies lost control of first place in the National League West. Good starts only go so far The Rockies tagged Dodgers starting pitcher Alex Wood for six runs in the first two innings, which pushed him from the game. Wood hit a batter and walked another to give the Rockies two of those six runs. Colorado took advantage of a shaky start from Wood and led 6-1 after two innings. Unfortunately, Chad Bettis wasn’t very sharp either. By the time he left the game in the sixth inning, it was 6-5 in favor of the Rockies. And by the time that sixth inning finally ended, the Dodgers were up 7-6. The Rockies were able to tie it up in the seventh, but that only set up the ninth inning heartbreak that came later. What’s next After an off day on Monday, the Rockies will begin a short three-game road trip to Cincinnati on Tuesday.<doc-sep>The exodus began about 30 seconds after the baseball left Yasmani Grandal’s bat. As Grandal touched home plate in the ninth inning of Sunday’s 10-7 Dodgers victory over Colorado, a wave of purple-clad Rockies fans headed for the exits at Coors Field. They had seen enough, with the Dodgers hammering their team for three days in the thin air. The two-run homer from Grandal capped a three-run inning against Wade Davis, one of the few competent relievers in the Rockies bullpen. The Dodgers (29-30) completed a sweep by scoring in double digits for three games in a row, a 33-run outburst that offered protection for their own pitching staff. “This is always a good place to come and get the offense clicking,” Justin Turner said. “Obviously, one of the best offensive parks to hit in the league. Guys did a good job all series staying in the zone, making their guys throw pitches and taking advantage of mistakes.” The Dodgers followed that blueprint in Sunday’s final inning. Entering a tied game in the ninth, Davis crumbled in incremental fashion. He gave up a leadoff double to Logan Forsythe, then uncorked a one-out wild pitch. Chris Taylor walked and scooted to second on another wild pitch. Turner brought home the go-ahead run with a groundout along the first-base line. Grandal finished the scoring by crushing a belt-high cutter. Advertisement Max Muncy supplied the offense in the first three innings with a pair of home runs. One was a solo shot. The other was a three-run blast that pulled the Dodgers back within striking distance after a dismal start from Alex Wood. The left-hander lasted just two innings, his briefest start since a five-out appearance on Sept. 11, 2015. He gave up six runs. The bullpen responded with seven innings of one-run baseball. Six relievers kept the Rockies at bay. Kenley Jansen finished the afternoon with his 14th save of the season. The Dodgers started a reliever Friday and won. The relievers offered four scoreless innings Saturday. The group topped that performance Sunday. “They were the stars of the series,” manager Dave Roberts said. The day before, the Rockies clubbed rookie Walker Buehler for four runs in the second inning. Buehler recovered to complete five innings. Colorado delivered a similar thrashing of Wood in Sunday’s first inning. Four of the first five Colorado batters reached base. Wood permitted three singles to open the game, with Nolan Arenado driving in a run in the third. A sacrifice fly from Trevor Story added another run. Wood flung a 90-mph fastball near the top of the strike zone to Ian Desmond. Colorado’s lead doubled when Desmond’s two-run shot left the ballpark. The Dodgers shaved a run off the deficit in the second, when Muncy launched his eighth home run of the season. But Wood remained ineffective. He had walked two or more batters in only two of his 11 starts this season. He walked three batters in the second inning alone. Wood sparked a fire by walking Chad Bettis, the opposing pitcher. His fastball remained erratic as he walked second baseman DJ LeMahieu on four pitches. A single by Charlie Blackmon loaded the bases. Wood brought a run home by plunking Story on the foot with a curveball. Desmond walked on a close, 3-2 fastball to force in another run. “To win in spite of that start I had today was pretty impressive,” Wood said. Advertisement Wood finished the second inning with 61 pitches. He would throw no more. With a day off Monday, Roberts decided to navigate the final seven innings with his bullpen. When Wood departed, the Dodgers trailed by five. Muncy shaved three off the tab with one swing in the third. After singles by Taylor and Matt Kemp, Muncy settled into an 11-pitch duel with Bettis. Muncy fouled off five consecutive pitches before Bettis spun a slider over the plate. Muncy bashed the pitch into the second deck of right field for his ninth homer. He’s tied with Kemp and Grandal for the team lead despite not being called up until April 17. “That was a big moment for us,” Muncy said. “Kind of got us back in the game there. You’re never out of a game here, especially at this place. You can put up a lot of runs in an inning, just like that.” The Dodgers kept chopping away at the deficit. Yasiel Puig hit a two-out double off the right-field fence in the sixth. After Enrique Hernandez walked, Forsythe hit an RBI single. Colorado coughed up the advantage when Story threw away a grounder off the bat of Breyvic Valera, which allowed two runs to score. Advertisement Few leads in this ballpark are safe. Protecting them requires care. The Dodgers operated in sloppy fashion in the seventh. Brock Stewart was pitching for a second inning. Stewart sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a single by Arenado. With Desmond at the plate, Stewart decided to focus on the runner. He bounced a pickoff attempt to first base and Arenado hustled to third . The error set the stage for another. Desmond hit a grounder to Forsythe. The ball slipped out of Forsythe’s grip as Arenado crossed the plate to tie the score. The game did not stay tied for long. “Honestly, I think our offense has been pretty good for quite some time,” Roberts said. Advertisement He credited the starting pitching and the bullpen as well as the offense. “When you’ve got two of those three things going, you’ve got a chance. This series, it was the ’pen and then the hitting.” andy.mccullough@latimes.com Twitter: @McCulloughTimes<doc-sep>The Dodgers’ offense has come to life this weekend at Coors Field, something they haven’t been able to say much in recent trips. They try for a sweep of the Rockies on Sunday afternoon in Denver. With 23 runs so far in this series the Dodgers have their best two-game stretch since plating 27 from Aug. 22-23, 2016 against the Reds and Giants. Scoring at Coors Field hasn’t come that easily for the Dodgers of late, scoring 13 total runs in four of their previous five series in Denver. Starting lineups Pos Dodgers Pos Rockies Pos Dodgers Pos Rockies SS Taylor 2B LeMahieu 3B Turner CF Blackmon (L) C Grandal (S) 3B Arenado LF Kemp SS Story 1B Muncy (L) LF Desmond RF Puig RF Cuevas CF Pederson (L) C Iannetta 2B Forsythe 1B McMahon (L) P Wood P Bettis That said, the Dodgers still have a long way to go Sunday to join their highest-scoring three-game series in Colorado: 36 runs: Sept. 26-28, 2006 35 runs: May 5-7, 1995 34 runs: July 20-22, 2001 31 runs: May 25-7, 2009 27 runs: June 3-5, 2002 Their best three-game series game at Coors Field came from Sept. 26-28, 2006, a Dodgers sweep in their penultimate series of the year, part of a seven-game win streak to close out the regular season and earn a wild card berth. James Loney hit two home runs and a double in the finale, tying a 56-year-old franchise record with nine RBI in a 19-11 win. Chad Bettis stands in the Dodgers’ way in Sunday’s series finale. He has a 2.03 ERA in seven road starts in 2018 and a 7.06 ERA in four starts at Coors Field. Cody Bellinger sits for the second time in three games in this series, but this is more noteworthy since it’s the first time of the season he’s not starting against a right-handed pitcher. Bellinger has five hits in his last 54 at-bats, and on the season is down to .226/.300/.415. Bellinger not starting to get two days off to regroup from slump, Roberts said. — Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 3, 2018 Cody Bellinger is sitting on the bench today against a right-handed pitcher. Dave Roberts described this season as “tough sledding” for Bellinger but said the team has not broached the topic of demoting him to OKC yet. — Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) June 3, 2018 Roberts said Bellinger’s confidence has been “wavering.” — Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 3, 2018 The Dodgers are off on Monday. Toles back soon It looks like Andrew Toles will be back on the field in a few days, after missing seven weeks with a hamstring strain. We have an Andrew Toles sighting in OKC. He completed his rehab in Arizona and the plan is to activate him for Tuesday’s game in Sacramento. (Team is off Monday. )#Dodgers — Alex Freedman (@azfreedman) June 3, 2018 Toles last played in a game in Triple-A on Apr. 13. Game info Time: 12:10 p.m. PT TV: SportsNet LA<doc-sep>
Three runs in the ninth inning broke a tie and gave the Dodgers their largest comeback win of the season, breaking out their hitting sticks yet again to finish off a sweep of the Rockies with a 10-7 win on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field. Logan Forsythe doubled to start the ninth inning against Wade Davis, and advanced to third on a wild pitch with one out. After a walk, Justin Turner fouled off five pitches before ending his nine-pitch at-bat with a tapper to the right of the mound for a ground out just well placed enough to score the go-ahead run. Yasmani Grandal followed with a two-run home run to give the Dodgers some breathing room, and gave the team double-digit runs in three straight games for the first time in 22 seasons. It was just the fourth time the Dodgers have scored at least 10 runs three consecutive times since moving to Los Angeles in 1958. The Dodgers scored 33 runs in the weekend sweep, their fourth-most prolific offensive three-game series at Coors Field. Down four runs after the first inning and five runs after two, the Dodgers on Sunday staged their largest comeback of the season. The previous high was overcoming a 4-0 deficit on Monday to beat the Phillies. The Dodgers bullpen excelled in the series finale, allowing just one unearned runs in seven innings on Sunday with no walks and 10 strikeouts. Six different pitchers relieved Alex Wood, who was done after just two innings in his worst start of the season. Wood, whose start was pushed back two days after dealing with cramps in his left leg, didn’t have it from the start on Sunday. Five batters into the contest he was down 4-0, the big blow a two-run home run by Ian Desmond. The second inning wasn’t any better for Wood, who hit a batter to force in a run and walked in another. He was lucky the inning wasn’t any more taxing because he also unleashed a wild pitch with the bases loaded but Charlie Blackmon thought twice about trying to score. But the damage was done, with Wood throwing 61 pitches just to get six outs, while allowing six runs. He walked three in total, after issuing zero or one walk in nine of his first 11 starts of the season. To the Max Max Muncy hit an opposite field shot in the second inning to get the Dodgers on the board, then culminated an 11-pitch at-bat with a three-run blast to right in the third inning, pulling the Dodgers to within 6-4. The unexpected hero of 2018* is now hitting .243/.349/.551, and despite spending the first 2½ weeks of the season in Triple-A is tied for the team lead with nine home runs. *Matt Kemp, who probably shares this distinction with Muncy, is also tied with him in home runs. As is Grandal. Hot potato The teams traded crucial infield errors to give up leads. Trevor Story threw away a potential inning-ending ground out to score two and give the Dodgers the lead in the sixth inning. Forsythe booted a two-out ground ball in the seventh, allowing Colorado to tie to the score. Multiple roles for Santana Dennis Santana, who hit a two-run double in his major league debut on Friday, has had quite a first full weekend in MLB. With the bullpen used early and the Dodgers using a four-man bench, Santana pinch hit for reliever Erik Goeddel in the fourth inning. He struck out on three pitches, but it was notable because Santana, a starting pitcher, ended up pinch hitting in the majors before even his first big league start. That start for Santana is expected to come Thursday in Pittsburgh, manager Dave Roberts said before the game. Up next The Dodgers are off Monday, but will start a series in Pittsburgh on Tuesday evening, with Ross Stripling on the mound against Joe Musgrove for the Pirates. Sunday particulars Home runs: Max Muncy 2 (9), Yasmani Grandal (9); Ian Desmond (10) WP - Tony Cingrani (1-2): 1⅓ IP, 2 strikeouts LP - Wade Davis (0-1): 1 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout Sv - Kenley Jansen (14): 1 IP, 1 strikeout