Rockies win seventh straight, take lead in NL West

After getting swept in Los Angeles, Colorado dropped 2 1/2 games behind the Dodgers and had an off day before three games in Arizona. The Rockies held a team meeting.

“You’ve got two options: You can sit at your locker and cry about it, or you can flush it out and show up the next day, continue to win games,” outfielder Carlos Gonzalez recalled.

Colorado hasn’t lost since.

David Dahl homered for the fourth straight game, and the Rockies opened a one-game NL West lead with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday that extended their winning streak to seven.

Trevor Story and Gerardo Parra also went deep for the Rockies (89-70), who matched their longest winning streak this season. Dahl hit a run-scoring triple and finished the four-game sweep with eight hits and 11 RBIs.

Seeking its first division title, Colorado closes at home with three games against Washington and already is assured its winningest season since going 92-70 in 2009.

“We’re on a roll right now and put ourselves back in the race,” Gonzalez said.

The second-place Dodgers (88-71) also are one game ahead of St. Louis (87-72) for the second NL wild-card berth and finish with a three-game series at San Francisco.

Jose Bautista and Carlos Santana homered for the Phillies, outscored 39-7 in the series. Philadelphia (78-81) is assured its seventh straight season without a winning record, its most since 1994-2000.

MLB record for strikeouts

Major League Baseball has set a strikeouts record for the 11th consecutive year — and with four days to spare.

There were 40,196 strikeouts through Wednesday, topping last year’s 40,104 — the first season strikeouts reach 40,000. There were 32,189 in 2007, the last season without a record, and 30,801 in 2003.

This will be the first season in major league history with more strikeouts than hits. There were 40,098 hits through Wednesday.