Will Smith had seen fellow Los Angeles Dodgers rookies Matt Beaty and Alex Verdugo deliver walk-off homers during their weekend series against the Colorado Rockies. Hours after being called up from the minors on Sunday, it was Smith’s turn to join the fun.

The rookie catcher connected for a pinch-hit, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning that lifted the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory and a three-game sweep over their closest NL West pursuers.

“Just when you think it can’t get any better, it does,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We talk about these young players not being afraid of the moment. For Will to get a pitch in and carry it to the opposite part of the field is pretty impressive.”

It is the first time in major league history that rookie teammates have hit walk-off homers in three straight games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Matt Beaty hit a two-run shot in the ninth inning on Friday and Alex Verdugo did it in the 11th on Saturday.

The last team to win three straight games in walk-off fashion was Oakland two years ago. The Dodgers had not done it since a 2010 series against Arizona.

Colorado manager Bud Black said not having much scouting information on rookies wasn’t a factor in the losses.

“A couple bad pitches got us. Scott didn’t locate his slider where he wanted to,” he said. “There are going to be great wins and tough losses. They are on a little bit of a nice roll but we’ll be back.”

Smith, a 24-year-old catcher playing his seventh game in the big leagues, hit a slider from Scott Oberg (5-1) over the wall in center. Beaty singled to lead off the inning and advanced on a wild pitch, and Russell Martin was intentionally walked with two outs.

Smith was promoted when infielder David Freese was put on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Friday with a left hamstring sprain. He caught a morning flight from Oklahoma City and got to the ballpark a couple hours before the game.

“I didn’t know if I was going to play today, so I made the most of my opportunity,” Smith said. “I was concentrating on the approach of the at-bat and getting the right pitch to hit.”

The Dodgers, with the best record in the majors, have won six straight games to tie the 1974 NL champions for the best start in franchise history (54-25) and complete a 9-2 homestand. Kenley Jansen (3-2) pitched one inning.

Dodgers star Cody Bellinger hit a line-drive foul ball down the first-base line that struck a young woman in the headduring the first inning. She was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests.

In the ninth inning, a female fan ran toward Bellinger in right field. He was trying to fend her off, and security personnel tackled her as she tried to hug Bellinger.

All six Dodger runs came via pinch-hit home runs. Chris Taylor greeted Rockies’ reliever Chad Bettis with a three-run homer in the seventh to give LA a 3-2 lead. Colorado tied it in the eighth when Daniel Murphy scored from first on Tony Wolters’ double into the right-field corner.

ROCKY SKID

Colorado has lost 11 straight to Los Angeles dating to last season. The Rockies are 13 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West nearing the midpoint of the season.

“We came in here ready to go and they beat us pretty good,” third baseman Nolan Arenado said. “At the end of the day we have to finish games. The good teams finish them. If we want to get to where we needed to go we have to win those.”

STREAKS AND STATS

Max Muncy has reached base safely in 32 straight games, which is the longest streak by a Dodger since Yasiel Puig’s 33-game run in 2014. … Murphy had his fifth three-hit game of the season and is batting .338 this month.

FOR STARTERS

Colorado’s Antonio Senzatela allowed only three hits the first six innings before running into trouble. The right-hander worked 6 1/3 innings and surrendered two runs on five hits with five strikeouts. It is the eighth time in 14 starts where he has allowed two or fewer runs.

Los Angeles’ Kenta Maeda went a season-high seven innings and allowed two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. The righty has 49 strikeouts and 10 walks in his last eight starts since May 10.

Maeda’s only big mistake came in the first inning when he gave up a two-run homer to David Dahl.

UP NEXT

Colorado: RHP Jon Gray (7-5, 4.18 ERA) gets the call Monday for the start of a three-game series in San Francisco.

 

AROUND THE MAJORS SUNDAY

—The New York Yankees’ winning streak is over, but their home run streak lives on. The Yankees had won eight straight before Jose Altuve led off Sunday’s game with a leadoff homer and rookie Yordan Alvarez connected again in the Astros’ 9-4 rout in the Bronx. Tyler White put it out of reach with a grand slam as the Astros stopped their season-high, seven-game skid. Yuli Gurriel added a solo shot to back Justin Verlander, who struck out nine while allowing three runs and four hits over seven innings. DJ LeMahieu  hit a three-run drive in the fifth, giving New York a home run in a franchise-record 26 consecutive games. The major league mark is 27, set by the 2002 Texas Rangers.

_ The Twins absorbed a 6-1 loss to the Royals as Hunter Dozier belted a three-run homer and Homer Bailey held the AL Central leaders to one run over 5 1/3 innings. Alex Gordon had two RBIs and Nicky Lopez also drove in a run as Kansas City earned a split of the four-game series. Eddie Rosario homered for the Twins, but Michael Pineda was reached for five runs over as many innings as Minnesota’s lead in the AL Central slipped to eight games over Cleveland.

_ Bobby Bradley lifted an RBI double in his first major league plate appearance as part of a five-run second in the Indians’ 8-2 thumping of the Tigers. Bradley was promoted from Triple-A Columbus after hitting an International League-leading 24 home runs. Jason Kipnis drove in two runs and Zach Plesac matched his longest outing in the majors to earn the victory, allowing one run over seven innings to help Cleveland complete a three-game sweep.

_ Marcus Stroman pitched six shutout innings as the Blue Jays downed the Red Sox’s 6-1 to take the three-game set. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had three hits and threw out a runner at the plate. Danny Jansen hit a two-run single and Eric Sogard added a solo homer against Boston, which had won eight of nine before dropping two straight to Toronto.

_ Travis d’Arnaud smacked a two-run homer and had three RBIs as the Rays whipped the Athletics, 8-2 to game a four-game split. Austin Meadows hit a three-run double in a five-run fourth that chased A’s starter Brett Anderson. Ryan Yarbrough followed Tampa Bay’s opener to pitch six innings, limiting Oakland to one run on five hits.

_ Tim Federowicz and Danny Santana smacked two-out, two-run homers in the second inning of the Rangers’ 7-4 verdict over the White Sox. Shawn Kelley struck out Tim Anderson to strand runners at second and third in the eighth inning after the White Sox had scored three runs to pull within 5-4. Texas rookie Adrian Sampson allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings to move to 6-4.

_ The Mariners used an eight-run third inning to crush the Orioles, 13-3. J.P. Crawford had a career-high four hits and drove in four, including a solo homer. Yusei Kikuchi had his best outing in a month, holding Baltimore to three runs despite yielding five hits and five walks over six frames.

_ The Cubs gained a split of their four-game series by downing the Mets, 5-3 on a three-run homer by Javier Baez in the bottom of the eighth. Mets rookie Pete Alonso blasted his 27th home run to break Darryl Strawberry’s team record for a rookie. New York manager Mickey Calloway and pitcher Jason Vargas had an altercation with Newsday writer Tim Healey after the journalist asked if Calloway had thought of changing pitchers before Seth Lugo surrendered the go-ahead blast.

_ Chicago’s lead in the NL Central remains a half-game over Milwaukee after Brandon Woodruff struck out a career-high 12 over seven innings of the Brewers’ 7-5 win against the Reds. Woodruff blanked Cincinnati until Joey Votto’s three-run blast in the seventh. Travis Shaw homered for the Brewers, who won the last two games of the series following a five-game skid.

_ Tommy La Stella and David Fletcher drove in two runs apiece to support Tyler Skaggs’ five shutout innings in the Angels’ 6-4 victory over the Cardinals. Angels slugger Albert Pujols had two hits and exchanged jerseys with former teammate Yadier Molina to conclude an emotional return to St. Louis. The Redbirds rallied for four runs in the ninth before falling two games off the NL Central lead.

_ The Braves took the rubber match at Washington as pinch-hitter Johan Camargo delivered a two-run homer in the 10th inning to break a 2-2 deadlock in a 4-3 win over the Nationals. Josh Donaldson and Ronald Acuña Jr. also went deep as Atlanta stretched its lead in the NL East to 6 ½ games over Philadelphia. Braves starter Mike Soroka pitched shutout ball before leaving the game after being struck in the right arm by a pitch from Austin Voth in the third.

_ Rookie right-hander Jordan Yamamoto won for the third time in three career starts as the Marlins dealt the Phillies their seventh consecutive loss, 6-4. The 23-year-old Yamamoto gave up two runs and two hits while fanning seven over five innings. Garrett Cooper and Brian Anderson hit consecutive homers for Miami, and teammate JT Riddle homered, doubled and drove in two.

_ The Diamondbacks pulled out a 3-2 win over the Giants on Tim Locastro’s RBI single with the bases loaded in the 10th inning. The hit allowed Arizona to halt a six-game slide. Christian Walker had three hits for Arizona.

_ Kevin Newman walked with the bases loaded in the 11th inning to cap a four-run rally in the Pirates’ stunning 11-10 win over the Padres. Pittsburgh also erased a 7-4 deficit in the ninth before winning its fifth in a row. Bryan Reynolds, Melky Cabrera and pinch-hitter Jacob Stallings drove in two runs apiece for the Bucs.