DENVER – On a shivering night better suited for ice fishing than baseball, poor pitching doomed the Rockies against the hard-hitting Phillies, and the magic that carried them to a memorable stretch run was nowhere to be found when they needed it most.

One more loss means Rocktober is over.

A ninth-inning sacrifice fly by Ryan Howard following a blown call gave Philadelphia a 6-5 win over Colorado in Game 3 of the NL Division Series before 50,109 freezing fans Sunday at Coors Field. The Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

With Jimmy Rollins at second with one out in the ninth, Chase Utley blasted a ball off his right knee in the batter’s box, but home plate umpire Jerry Meals didn’t call it foul. Utley sprinted to first, and Huston Street’s throw was errant, forcing Todd Helton off the bag. That put runners on the corners, and Howard’s fly to center field brought home Rollins.

Chad Durbin got the win for the Phillies. Denver native Brad Lidge earned the save after retiring Troy Tulowitzki for the final out with runners on first and second. Street took the loss – he had only one in 64 appearances in the regular season. The game lasted 4 hours, 6 minutes, ending at 12:14 a.m. with temperatures in the high 20s.

Game 4 is 4:07 p.m. today at Coors Field, with 15-game winner Ubaldo Jimenez taking the mound for the Rockies against Cliff Lee, who beat Jimenez in Game 1. If necessary, Game 5 is Tuesday in Philadelphia. The winner advances to face the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series beginning Thursday in Los Angeles.

Making his first postseason start, Rockies pitcher Jason Hammel didn’t have the stuff that carried him to a career-high 10 wins, including victories in two of his past three outings. He got torched for four runs on four hits in 3 2/3 innings – most of the damage coming in a three-run fourth that gave the Phillies a 4-3 lead.

Phillies starter J.A. Happ, also making his first playoff start, wasn’t much better, allowing three runs on five hits in three innings before giving way to Joe Blanton, who surrendered a solo home run to Carlos Gonzalez that tied the score in Colorado’s half of the fourth.

Neither pitcher was helped by less-than-ideal conditions in a game that was moved from Saturday after half an inch of snow fell in Denver, with temperatures dipping to a record-low 17 degrees. Temperature at first pitch Sunday was 35 degrees – the coldest game in Division Series history and tied for the second-coldest game in Rockies history.

The defending champion Phillies went ahead 5-4 in the sixth, scoring on an RBI single by Carlos Ruiz after Jose Contreras issued consecutive walks. The Rockies drew even in the seventh on a Tulowitzki sacrifice fly following singles by Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler, who reached on a bunt that reliever Scott Eyre misplayed, twisting his right ankle.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy thought Utley didn’t beat Street’s throw and that Helton kept his foot on the bag. “I thought he was out at first base, but that’s neither here nor there,” Tracy said. “He called him safe. I think there were other elements involved that are much more glaring as far as the outcome of the game.”

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel added, “It looked to me like it hit the bat and the ball hit the tip of the grass. … Of course, when Street came off the mound and fielded it, he had to lob the ball over Utley.”

Meals told a pool reporter Utley shouldn’t have been allowed to continue to first.

“The ball came up and grazed off his leg and continued rolling up the line,” Meals said. “I never heard it, never saw it. … Chase Utley took off like it was nothing. He gave no indication to us that it hit him.”

The Phillies struck in the first, when Utley hit a two-out, solo homer off Hammel, then Colorado took the lead in its half of the inning, amassing four hits for two runs. The Rockies pulled even on a Helton fielder’s choice after singles by Gonzalez and Fowler, and Colorado made it 2-1 when Garrett Atkins ripped an RBI single.

Atkins put the Rockies ahead 3-1 in the third, scoring Helton with a double off the center-field warning track. The Phillies bounced back in the fourth, sandwiching a bases-loaded walk by Raul Ibanez between RBI singles by Howard and Ruiz to chase Hammel.

Rockies outfielder Dexter Fowler tried to avoid the tag of Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton in Game 3 of the NL Division Series on Sunday at Coors Field. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS