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Long ball dooms Rockies

LOS ANGELES – The Colorado Rockies had swept their first two road series of the season at Milwaukee and San Francisco. Then they came into Dodger Stadium and got swept themselves.

Rookie Scott Oberg gave up homers to Howie Kendrick, Scott Van Slyke and Joc Pederson during a five-run sixth inning, and the Rockies lost the ninth consecutive game to the Dodgers, 7-0 on Sunday.

Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins turned a huge inning-ending double play in the sixth, just nipping Troy Tulowitzki at first base after Brandon McCarthy fielded his comebacker with runners at the corners.

“We had first and third, nobody out, and we didn’t score. You’re not going to have a lot of opportunities with their pitching staff, so you’ve got to cash in when you do,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “Then the game took a turn for the worse.”

Kendrick led off the bottom half with his second homer of the series and Andre Ethier walked. First baseman Justin Morneau dropped a foul pop by Van Slyke, prolonging the at-bat, and Van Slyke hit his first homer of the season.

“Van Slyke’s a tough out. And if you give him an extra chance, more times than not it ends up hurting you. That’s usually the case in this league,” Weiss said. “The reality was, we didn’t play well enough to win a series here.”

Pederson followed Van Slyke’s homer with a drive to right-center on an 0-2 count, extending the margin to 6-0.

“I haven’t seen the ball fly here at Dodger Stadium like the way it’s done so far this year,” A.J. Ellis said. “I hope they’re not talking about putting in a humidor or anything like that.”

Justin Turner capped the Dodgers’ rally with a run-scoring double for one of his four hits. He had two of them against Eddie Butler, making him 6-for-8 lifetime against the right-hander.

“I like to throw the ball down, and that’s kind of where he likes it,” Butler said. “So it’s strength against strength, and so far it’s worked out well for him.”

Eddie Butler (1-1) allowed two runs and six hits over five innings, including consecutive run-scoring doubles by Van Slyke and Pederson to open the scoring in the second.

McCarthy (2-0) allowed three hits in six innings, struck out six and walked two to defeat the Rockies for the first time in five career starts. In his previous outing, he surrendering four home runs in a seven-inning no-decision against Seattle.

“I made better pitches today and stayed away from the middle of the plate, for the most part,” said McCarthy, who played his high school ball in Colorado Springs.

Ellis, who lost his starting job with the acquisition of Yasmani Grandal from San Diego in the Matt Kemp trade, made his first start behind the plate since April 13 and threw out Charlie Blackmon trying to steal second base in the third. Blackmon appeared to have beaten the throw, but Rollins blocked his slide with his foot before applying the tag.

“Jimmy just did a great job,” Ellis said. “I kidded with him and said: ‘It looks like Chase Utley finally taught you something,’ because Chase is renowned for his ability to keep runners off the bag.”

Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was 0-for-4, ending his hitting streak at 13 games, but his teammates combined for 14 hits.



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