Loney stays calm and collects the benefits

Whether it was his words that made a difference, Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said he saw a change in James Loney.

Torre said he saw it when Loney grounded into an eighth-inning double play that he described as unfortunate, and again when the 23-year-old first baseman singled to right field with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to drive in the decisive run of the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, a win that completed the team’s first series sweep this season.

“Very patient,” Torre said. “He didn’t try to pull the ball. I liked how he was a little calmer.”

The impatience that Torre perceived in Loney when he hit with men on base prompted the manager to call him into his office Friday. Loney said that Torre asked him about an at-bat he had the previous night in a loss to Arizona, when he could’ve tied the score in the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly but grounded into an inning-ending double play.

“I think sometimes I’d see pitches and think I could hit them no matter what,” Loney said.

Torre said he only wanted to remind Loney of “the fact that when you’re hitting in that situation, the pitcher’s the one who’s in trouble, not you.”

Loney grounded into another double play Sunday, this time with the score tied, 2-2, and runners on first and second, but Torre said he was pleased that Loney hit the ball up the middle. Loney drew an 11-pitch walk with two outs to load the bases in the first inning, but Andruw Jones squandered the chance by flying out to left field.

Rafael Furcal, who scored on Loney’s 10th-inning single, said of the team’s young players, “They want to learn.”

The extra-inning victory prevented the Dodgers from falling seven games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks, who maintained their dominance in the National League West by beating San Diego, 2-1.

The Dodgers will start a three-game series with the Florida Marlins on Tuesday and will face Colorado on the back end of a six-game trip.

For the Rockies, their defeat Sunday was their seventh in their last eight games.

Left-hander Jeff Francis remained winless despite limiting the Dodgers to two runs and five hits in seven innings. Both of the runs he gave up came in the fourth inning, when he gave up a two-out triple to rookie third baseman Blake DeWitt. Francis intentionally walked Chin-lung Hu to face pitcher Esteban Loaiza, but Loaiza singled to right field to drive in DeWitt. Hu moved to second on Loaiza’s hit and scored on a single by Furcal, who was two for four and raised his average to .363.

The lead didn’t last long. Jeff Baker doubled to right-center field against Loaiza in the fifth inning and scored when Willy Taveras did the same. Taveras scored on a single by Todd Helton to tie the score, 2-2.

The inning was the last pitched by Loaiza.

The Dodgers received five shutout innings from their bullpen, with recent call-up Cory Wade blanking the Rockies in the sixth and seventh.

The Rockies were a hit away from taking the lead in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings, but Jonathan Broxton, Takashi Saito and Joe Beimel escaped their respective jams.

Beimel (1-0) gave up consecutive one-out singles in the 10th inning, but retired Troy Tulowitzki and Baker.

Furcal and Mark Sweeney drew walks to start the bottom half of the inning and advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Kemp. With first base open, closer Manny Corpas (0-2) opted to walk Russell Martin and pitch to Loney.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com