Dodgers blink first and lose by an eyelash

One bad pitch doomed Chad Billingsley to defeat Friday night.

The up-and-down Billingsley was back up at Dodger Stadium, but he was also up in the zone with an eighth-inning fastball that Chris Snyder curled into the seats by the left-field foul pole to send the Dodgers to a 1-0 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Dodgers’ 10th loss in their last 14 games put them two games behind the first-place Diamondbacks in the National League West and allowed the San Diego Padres to pass them for second place.

Billingsley (7-2), who has been inconsistent because of high pitch counts, was brilliant over most of the 7 2/3 innings he was on the mound, striking out eight and limiting the Diamondbacks to five hits. But Arizona starter Doug Davis was better, if only by one pitch.

Davis’ career earned-run average when facing the Dodgers remained 0.00 after he blanked them on three hits over eight innings, extending his streak of scoreless innings against them to 30.

“I made one mistake and that was the difference,” Billingsley said.

Unlike Thursday night, when the Dodgers stranded 13 men on base in a loss to the San Francisco Giants, the home team hardly ever threatened. Russell Martin, who singled to start the fourth inning, was the only leadoff man to get on base.

“The only positive thing that came out for us is that we didn’t leave the bases loaded two or three times,” Manager Grady Little said, alluding to the previous evening. “We need to get it going and we need to get it going now.”

But, Little said, Jeff Kent would probably miss his fifth game in a row today because of a strained left hamstring.

Asked if he might try to shake up the lineup, Little replied, “Heck, we shook it up a little today.”

Olmedo Saenz started at first base and batted cleanup but was 0 for 3, making the pinch-hitting specialist 0 for his last 23.

The Diamondbacks not only extended their lead in the NL West, they also added a pair of reinforcements for the final stretch of the season: pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim and infielder Jeff Cirillo. Both were claimed off waivers, Kim from the Florida Marlins and Cirillo from the Minnesota Twins.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, looked as though they might lose another key player on the basepaths, as Martin planted his right foot awkwardly on first base to beat out a double play in the sixth. Trainer Stan Conte and Little scurried out of the dugout to see Martin, who remained in the game.

Friday marked the day two outfield prospects made their first major league starts: Delwyn Young of the Dodgers and the highly-touted Justin Upton of the Diamondbacks.

Upton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft, was called up Thursday from double-A Mobile and was an eighth-inning defensive replacement in a loss at San Diego later that day. At 19 years 342 days, Upton became the youngest player ever to play for Arizona.

He started in right field Friday, but went 0 for 4.

Diamondbacks Manager Bob Melvin said of comparisons between Upton and the likes of Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr.: “Talent-wise, I wouldn’t argue that for a second.”

Young, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, called his first career start surreal.

But the lifelong Dodgers fan remained hitless in nine career at-bats.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com