Dodgers’ rally wasted in 6-4 loss in 10 innings

So much for that.

After rallying with four late runs against Cleveland on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers wasted the comeback in maddening fashion in the 10th inning of a 6-4 defeat.

Jhonny Peralta’s two-out, two-run double just out of the reach of right fielder Andre Ethier broke the tie, one batter after Dodgers closer Takashi Saito had gotten Franklin Gutierrez to ground into a rare 6-2-5 double play with the bases loaded.

Reliever Masahide Kobayashi did what three predecessors out of the Indians’ bullpen could not in the bottom of the 10th, pitching a scoreless inning as the Dodgers fell to 1-6 in interleague play.

Down by four runs in the eighth inning against a Cy Young Award candidate, the Dodgers and their bumbling offense didn’t seem to stand much of a chance.

But there was Jeff Kent exchanging high-fives with his teammates in the dugout in the ninth inning after his run-scoring grounder pulled the Dodgers into a 4-4 tie and sent the game into extra innings.

Saito quickly wobbled in the 10th, walking leadoff hitter Jamey Carroll before giving up consecutive hits to Ben Francisco and Ryan Garko. And just when Gutierrez’s double-play grounder put Saito on the verge of an epic escape, Peralta came through with his clutch hit.

The Dodgers couldn’t do much against Indians starter Cliff Lee, who gave up only one run in 7 1/3 innings before the Cleveland bullpen imploded in the eighth and ninth innings.

With the Dodgers trailing, 4-2, Angel Berroa led off the ninth with a single to left field off closer Joe Borowski and went to third on Russell Martin’s double to left. After pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt struck out, Juan Pierre’s single that ricocheted off Borowski toward the third-base side of the mound scored Berroa to pull the Dodgers to within 4-3.

Pierre then stole second base, prompting Borowski to intentionally walk Matt Kemp to load the bases and bring up Kent, whose slow grounder to shortstop Peralta scored Martin with the tying run. Borowski intentionally walked James Loney to bring up Andy LaRoche, who flied to center for the inning’s final out.

Kelly Shoppach’s two-run homer off Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw in the third inning had looked as if it would be more than enough run support for Lee, who was on cruise control until the eighth.

Kemp hit a one-out single to right field, prompting Cleveland Manager Eric Wedge to replace Lee with Rafael Betancourt. Kent greeted the reliever with a run-scoring double off the glove of diving center fielder Grady Sizemore.

Loney then hit an RBI single up the middle that grazed reliever Rafael Perez’s leg and made it 4-2. But Perez recovered by striking out LaRoche and Ethier to end the inning.

As much as the Dodgers have struggled since May 23, when they started a stretch in which they have gone 9-18 to fall 4 1/2 games behind Arizona in the National League West, it’s not as if they’ve put their manager in unfamiliar territory.

Joe Torre’s final New York Yankees team fell as many as eight games below .500 in late May and entered play one year ago today 10 1/2 games behind Boston in the American League East. Those Yankees went on to secure a wild-card berth, their 12th consecutive postseason appearance under Torre.

And it wasn’t exactly the first time Torre had led a team under duress into the playoffs. The 2006 Yankees were four games back in the AL East on July 4 and wound up winning the division by 10 games.

In 2005, New York trailed Boston by four games as late as the start of play on Sept. 11 and eventually tied the Red Sox for the division title.

Of course, those were the Yankees and these are the Dodgers.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com