Rockies swept by Dodgers on third straight walk-off

With an extraordinary sense of bitter irony, the Los Angeles Dodgers walked off on the Colorado Rockies for the third straight game on Sunday afternoon.

Rookie Will Smith became the third rookie to hit a homer on the last pitch of the game in this series, getting Scott Oberg for a three-run job in the bottom of the ninth.

Colorado competed again but found themselves swept by the class of the division.

Once again it looked like they might get the better of a tough matchup but couldn’t hold on late.

The Rockies ran out a lineup with an average age of 25.6 and that included 34-year-old Daniel Murphy.

Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon were both on the bench to start the game with Bud Black citing the wear and tear of the season and each needing some rest.

In their place were Garrett Hampson, who was called up just a few hours before the game, and Pat Valaika, both of whom have struggled to produce at the plate at the MLB level this season.

That left David Dahl as one of the senior members of the lineup in what is essentially his second full year in the majors.

He took to the role of being one of the few regulars in the order and broke up an 0-for-11 stretch by smashing a fastball over the wall in center.

His eighth home run of the season gave the Rockies a 1-0 lead.

They added one on a series of well-placed and well-timed singles.

Garrett Hampson lined one to right with one away that Cody Bellinger was just unable to catch. Dahl lined out but Murphy kept the inning alive with a liner up the middle. Ryan McMahon came up with the two-out RBI on a grounder back up the middle to score Hampson and give Colorado a 2-0 advantage.

Senzatela pitched remarkably well and had allowed just three hits and a walk through the first six innings and didn’t deserve for his outing to end the way it did.

After getting Max Muncy to ground out to start the seventh, Matt Beatty reached on a weak grounder to second and Enrique Hernandez doubled inside the line in left to put runners at second and third.

Black went to reliever Chad Bettis who has mostly been very good out of the bullpen but he hung his first pitch to Chris Taylor who launched it over the wall in left for a three-run shot to give the Dodgers a sudden 3-2 lead.

Colorado tied it up in the eighth on a single from Murphy and a double for Tony Wolters but that only set the stage for the inevitable walk-off.

The Rockies are off to San Francisco for a three-game set with the Giants before returning home.