Justin Turner, Max Muncy give Dodgers leads, David Price saves it to sweep Rockies

Twice the Dodgers trailed by a pair of runs on Thursday night, and twice they got three-run home runs, one from each of their hottest hitters. It was Max Muncy’s three-run shot in the seventh that game LA the lead for good in a 7-5 win over the Rockies to complete the three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers have swept the Rockies in five of their last seven series at home, winning 20 of their last 23 matchups against Colorado at Dodger Stadium.

Trailing 5-3 in the seventh, a pair of walks brought Muncy to the plate with two outs, against reliever Yency Almonte. Muncy slammed a 2-0 changeup 405 feet into the right field pavilion.

“Max has gotten a lot of big hits in his career,” Dave Roberts said. “And that was another big one.”

Muncy’s blast gave the Dodgers the lead, but didn’t end the scoring in the inning. Two singles and a walk against Tyler Kinney loaded the bases, then a wild pitch by Carlos Estevez brought in an insurance run.

The Dodgers made it hold up thanks to some unheralded members of the bullpen on what was pretty clearly a night of rest for the usual suspects. Dennis Santana pitched a perfect eighth inning on seven pitches, then David Price entered in the ninth for his second game in three nights after a week without pitching.

Price allowed singles to his first two batters faced in the ninth, then fell behind 2-0 to pinch-hitter Trevor Story before striking him out. Then Price struck out Garrett Hampson and got Raimel Tapia to ground out to end it, picking up his second major league save, and his first since Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS.

To err is human

Julio Urías pounded the zone all night, throwing 71 of his 90 pitches for strikes, but was pounded in return, with eight hard-hit balls by the Rockies against him, measured by Statcast as balls with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph. Two of those left the park, but both home runs — by Ryan McMahon and Hampson — were solo shots.

The Rockies found other ways to score, too, including with a little help. After three straight hits against Urías allowed the tying run to score in the sixth, Yonathan Daza dumped a single to right field in front of Zach McKinstry, who was originally going to play second base on Thursday. As McKinstry bobbled the ball, C.J. Cron scored the go-ahead run, then after catching the throw into the infield, shortstop Chris Taylor, who was originally penciled in center field, threw a few feet about Will Smith’s head, allowing an insurance run to score.

Gomber pile (of hits)

Justin Turner continued his unprecedented April power barrage, giving the Dodgers the lead with a three-run home run in the third inning, this time homering to a nacho-less area beyond the center field wall.

Turner also doubled against the left field wall in the fifth inning, one of three hits he had against Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber. Turner walked twice against Gomber on April 4 in Denver, reaching base all five times against him this season. Dating back to 2018, when Gomber was in St. Louis, Turner has reached base nine times in 10 plate appearances against the left-hander, with three doubles and Thursday’s homer, hitting .857/.900/1.714 against him.

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, they only had three other hits in six innings against Gomber, who struck out seven.

Thursday particulars

Home runs: Justin Turner (4), Max Muncy (3); Ryan McMahon (6), Garrett Hampson (1)

WP — Jimmy Nelson (1-1): 1 IP, zeroes

LP — Yency Almonte (1-1): IP, 1 hit, 3 runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout

Sv — David Price (1): 1 IP, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts