DENVER -- You know you're having a bad week when starting pitchers are removed by the trainer and not the manager.

It happened to the Dodgers in the preceding back-to-back games, so even though Brett Tomko received the loss in Saturday night's 6-2 defeat by the Rockies, at least he wasn't hurt doing it.

In the wake of injuries to Derek Lowe and Brad Penny, the only pain Tomko endured was watching leadoff walks in the first two innings followed by two-run homers, Matt Holliday in the first, and Troy Tulowitzki in the second.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers' offense couldn't climb out from a 5-0 hole against Jeff Francis. The Dodgers scraped for a couple of runs, wasted their only real opportunity to make a game of it in the seventh inning and slipped into a tie for first place in the National League West with the streaking D-backs, having lost six of their last nine.

There were a few positives. Although Tomko saw his record fall to 2-8, he shut down the Rockies over his final four innings and probably would have gone out for the seventh if his spot in the batting order hadn't come up in the short-lived seventh-inning rally.

The threat was started by Jeff Kent, who drove in the Dodgers' first run in the fourth and scored the other in the seventh. Nomar Garciaparra's first of two doubles moved Kent to third, and Kent scored on the second of two Andre Ethier singles.

But with runners on the corners and one out, trailing, 5-2, Mike Lieberthal and Russell Martin popped out. Lieberthal started behind the plate to give a breather to Martin, who pinch-hit for Tomko.

The Rockies added a final run in the bottom of the seventh on Garrett Atkins' solo homer off Rudy Seanez, the sixth home run Seanez has allowed in the last 5 2/3 innings of relief. Atkins had three hits and was a double shy of a cycle.

Offensively, the hot hitters stayed hot and the cold hitters stayed cold. Kent went 2-for-4, is 9-for-15 on the trip, has reached base an MLB-leading 37 consecutive games and his average is up to .297. Ethier went 2-for-4 and is 5-for-12 on the trip. Garciaparra went 2-for-4 and is 7-for-18 on the trip.

But Juan Pierre went 0-for-3 and is 3-for-18 on the trip. Matt Kemp went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and is 0-for-11 on the trip. And Olmedo Saenz went 0-for-4 in place of James Loney at first base and is 1-for-17 dating back five weeks.

"We just didn't get the bats going to catch up," said manager Grady Little, who had three regulars on the bench -- Martin, Loney and Luis Gonzalez -- trying to stack the lineup with right-handed hitters against Francis, who raised his record to 11-6 while the Rockies climbed above .500, 4 1/2 games out of first.

"That's the best game I've seen [Francis] pitch in the last couple years," said Little. "He changed speeds and located well. He was tough on us tonight."

Tomko, pitching on seven days rest, said he couldn't find a rhythm his first two innings, especially with the cut fastball that had been the key to his second-half revival (one earned run in 11 innings coming into the game).

"For some reason, it started clicking in the third inning and felt normal," he said. "I don't want to make excuses. It's been about eight days since I pitched, and I lost a little bit of that touch thing, but I'm not blaming it on that. I had enough time in the bullpen to get things right. This park is pretty unforgiving if you're not on your game."

Particularly to Tomko, who is 1-6 lifetime at Coors Field with a 7.29 ERA in 10 starts. In his only other start against the Rockies this year, Tomko allowed one hit in six scoreless innings of an April 10 no-decision.

Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said Tomko was "rusty" and his pitches were up in the early innings. Little said Tomko could have been overthrowing, which would make that more likely.

"He had to pay for it but settled in after that and gave us four more innings," Little said. "That was important for us and for him, too. He'll be back out there again in a few days. I felt he did turn it around."