PHOENIX -- The Dodgers had lost their last four games, the latest being a 15-inning marathon that wore down the bullpen. And by the fourth inning on Saturday night, they had lost starting pitcher Derek Lowe to an injury. And by the eighth inning, they had squandered a three-run lead with more extra innings looming.

So, the uncharacteristic flip of the bat by Jeff Kent as he watched his ninth-inning home run sail away underscored the satisfaction and relief provided by a 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks that kept the Dodgers in first place.

"Lowe getting smoked hurts us and losing in San Diego was embarrassing and we had a tough game last night, and I guess going down the stretch, you hate to waste opportunities and I'm glad we didn't waste one tonight," Kent said, with his lingering oblique injury wrapped heavily in ice. "If you've noticed the last few days, nothing's been coming easy for us."

But the Dodgers escaped what could have been another frustrating loss with a victory, while Lowe escaped with an injury less severe than it initially appeared.

He suffered a contusion at the base of his left thumb when he was drilled by a Chad Tracy line drive. X-rays were negative and, with Thursday's day off providing extra rest and the injury being to his non-pitching hand, he might make his next start on Friday.

But he wasn't thinking about his next start when that bullet caught him flush just below the glove. Lowe spun off the mound, flopped around aimlessly while his left arm dangled until he finally stopped near shortstop, bent over in pain. He quickly walked off the field with a trainer.

"I don't have a high tolerance for pain," Lowe said.

"When I followed him into the clubhouse," said manager Grady Little, "it didn't look good at first sight. But I don't see any reason why he won't make his next start. It just might affect what he does between now and then."

The whole scene was eerily reminiscent of Lowe's start in the same ballpark on April 10, 2005, when a Craig Counsell comebacker left a contusion above the back of his right elbow and also sent him from the game to get X-rays.

"I've never beaten these guys [in Arizona]. They've KO'ed me twice here. It's like I can do nothing right," said Lowe, whose entire left forearm and hand were immobilized by a rigid black brace. "It couldn't have happened at a worse time, with the 15-inning game last night. Give the guys credit, they stepped up."

Well, if he's talking about the bullpen, only sort of. Lowe had a shutout and a three-run lead working when he left the game, but two batters later the Diamondbacks had their first run. Joe Beimel was the one reliever for the Dodgers who didn't pitch on Friday night because of a sore arm, and he quickly allowed a pair of hits.

The Diamondbacks scored two more runs off Brett Tomko in the seventh and eighth innings. Tim Hamulack made a successful one-inning return with two strikeouts, Jonathan Broxton put down Tomko's eighth inning by getting Johnny Estrada to line out to Rafael Furcal and Takashi Saito rebounded from his blown save on Friday night with an uneventful ninth inning for his 15th save.

But the key for the Dodgers wasn't their bullpen, it was Miguel Batista finally leaving the game after eight innings and turning the game over to the Diamondbacks' bullpen.

Although he allowed a two-run single to Nomar Garciaparra in the third inning and a tainted run in the third when second baseman Orlando Hudson was late covering second base on a fielder's choice bouncer by Lowe, Batista held the Dodgers hitless after the fourth inning.

Luis Vizcaino took over for Batista, ran the count to 3-2 to Kent, then didn't come inside enough and gave the second baseman pretty much the only pitch he can really handle, in spite of the oblique injury. The only hit Kent had in eight previous at-bats against Vizcaino was a home run.

"It couldn't have come in any bigger game, it couldn't have come any better for us," Lowe said of Kent's homer only the fifth hit of the game for the Dodgers.