DENVER -- Without knowing Derek Lowe's improved condition and before seeing Brad Penny double over in pain, Grady Little downplayed the chaos surrounding his pitching staff Thursday and broke into a pregame smile at the amusing absurdity of it all.

"And," said Little, noting a significant factoid, "we're still in first place."

They even maintained their lead of 1 1/2 games by edging the Rockies, 5-4, and the medical report was decidedly upbeat.

Lowe, who left Wednesday night's game with a groin strain aggravated running to first base, had an MRI and said he probably won't miss a start. Penny, who left the game with a stomach cramp suffered legging out an infield single in the seventh inning, said he could have kept going and won't miss his next start. And closer Takashi Saito returned after a week on the sidelines with his 26th save.

Lowe was asked what it meant that Dodgers pitchers kept getting injured.

"That we're not very good athletes?" he asked.

That could be a cautionary tip for Brett Tomko, who is scheduled to start Friday night.

"I'm 0-for-16 with 12 punchouts, so the chances I even put the ball in play speak for themselves," said Tomko. "As long as I don't pull a groin walking to the dugout, I'll be all right."

Penny, however, relishes being the two-way player. He went 2-for-3 in this game before that second hit left him doubled over in pain and prompted his exit, but it raised his average to .293. He's on pace to become the first Dodgers pitcher since Fernando Valenzuela to have a higher batting average than ERA.

That ERA rose a tad to 2.51 when he allowed three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but he had already been staked to a 5-0 lead behind Rafael Furcal's two-run homer, Nomar Garciaparra's two-run single and a critical error by center fielder Willy Taveras, who misplayed Luis Gonzalez's long fly to center just before Garciaparra's hit.

Until he nearly keeled over, Penny looked like the Cy Young candidate that he is. He raised his record to 13-1, becoming the first Dodgers pitcher since Phil Regan went 14-1 in 1966 and the first Dodgers starter since at least 1920 to start a season 13-1. He's tied for the Major League lead in wins, has an eight-game win streak and thoroughly owns the Rockies with a 12-2 career mark and 2.69 ERA.

He totally downplayed what appeared to be a serious injury, blaming it on the altitude. Other contributing factors could have been the 28-pitch inning he just finished, as well as the extended delay he endured just before his at-bat when Rockies starter Rodrigo Lopez left with a sore forearm. Penny said he could have continued, but was urged to err on the side of caution and call it a night.

"It doesn't seem to be anything serious," said Little. "When it happened, I was just hoping it wasn't too bad. That's all you can hope for when you see someone fold over like that."

Little was able to use the back end of his bullpen as he's designed it, which hasn't been possible during the recent crisis. Joe Beimel took over for Penny, Jonathan Broxton bailed Beimel out of a seventh-inning jam with a strikeout of Matt Holliday before allowing one run in the eighth, and Saito finished it off in the ninth without any discomfort in his shoulder blade.

"The last time it hurt when I pitched, so I think it's fine now," said Saito. "We'll see how it feels tomorrow. I was a little bit worried about getting the feeling back of facing hitters, but I don't think I had that much of a problem. With Penny going down, it was important for me to do my job, so I just went out there to pitch."

Said Little about Saito: "We missed him when he was gone. It runs everybody back a notch and it affected us a lot. He looked strong out there tonight. We're glad to have him back."

Friday also could be a big day for Lowe. The MRI he underwent also checked his hip, and he was cleared to try throwing off a mound.

"I can't see by the way I feel today, and the strength I have is good enough where you can't really see something lingering a long time," Lowe said. "We'll see if I can throw off the mound tomorrow."