DENVER _ The exodus began about 30 seconds after the baseball left Yasmani Grandal's bat. As Grandal touched home plate in the ninth inning of a 10-7 Los Angeles Dodgers victory over Colorado, a wave of purple-clad Rockies fans headed for exits of Coors Field. They had seen enough, with the Dodgers hammering their hosts for three days in the thin air.
The two-run shot from Grandal capped a three-run inning against Colorado closer 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 from their own pitching staff.
Entering a tied game in the ninth, Davis crumbled in incremental fashion. He gave up a leadoff double to Logan Forsythe. Davis uncorked a wild pitch. Chris Taylor walked and scooted to second on another wild pitch. Justin Turner brought home the go-ahead run with a well-placed groundout along the first-base line. Grandal finished the scoring by crushing a belt-high cutter.
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. Wood lasted just two innings, his briefest start since a five-out appearance on Sept. 11, 2015. He gave up six runs.
The day before, the Rockies clubbed rookie Walker Buehler for four runs in the second inning. Buehler recovered to complete five frames. Colorado delivered a similar thrashing for Wood in Sunday's first inning. It was not pretty.
Four of the first five Colorado batters reached base. Wood permitted three singles to open the game, with third baseman Nolan Arenado driving in a run with the third. A sacrifice fly from shortstop Trevor Story added another run. Wood flung a 90-mph fastball near the top of the strike zone to first baseman 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 batters or more 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 D.J. LeMahieu on four pitches. A single by Rockies outfielder 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.
Wood finished the second inning with 61 pitches. He would throw no more. With a day off on Monday, manager Dave Roberts decided to navigate the final seven innings with his bullpen.
When Wood departed, the Dodgers trailed by five runs. Muncy shaved three runs off the tab with one swing in the third. After singles by Chris 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 tthe plate. Muncy bashed the pitch into the second deck of right field.
The Dodgers kept chopping away at the deficit. Yasiel Puig banged a two-out double off the right-field fence in the sixth. After Enrique Hernandez walked, Logan Forsythe stroke 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.
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 base.
The error set the stage for another. Desmond hit a grounder to Forsythe. The baseball slipped out of Forsythe's grip as Arenado crossed the plate to tie the score.
