Dodgers are zoned out

Inches are what Chad Billingsley said turned back the clock on him Sunday.

Missing the zone on calls that he claimed could have gone either way, Billingsley was nowhere near as efficient as he was in his previous start, resulting in his first defeat of the season in a 9-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

The defeat cost the Dodgers a chance to be alone in first in the National League West -- they are tied with Arizona and are half a game ahead of San Diego -- and possibly Jeff Kent, who left the game in the ninth inning with a strained left hamstring.

If the mounting losses (seven in 10 games) and injuries weren’t bothersome enough, the Dodgers will experience Barry Bonds’ traveling circus firsthand Tuesday, when they play host to the San Francisco Giants in the first of three games.

Billingsley (7-1), the greatest source of optimism of what turned out to be a 2-4 trip, was back to being the Billingsley who ran up his pitch counts, requiring 114 pitches to get through the 4 1/3 laborious innings in which he was charged with four runs. When completing nine innings for the first time in his career six days earlier, he threw five fewer pitches.

“I was around the plate and was missing by just a little bit,” Billingsley said.

Didn’t he tell home plate umpire Dana DeMuth that it was his 23rd birthday?

“It’s just another day,” he said with a smile, adding that he would spend the remainder of his birthday with his wife in their newly built home in Arizona.

Manager Grady Little said there would be days like this for Billingsley, who has the right stuff but not yet the experience to harness it.

“I think we understood that last year,” Little said. “We understand it this year, too. He might as well get ready. This is what happens when you have a young starter out there.”

The game that was a setback for Billingsley was a breakout of sorts for the man who caught him, Russell Martin.

Back from two days of resting his sore back, Martin was three for five with a home run, two doubles and three runs.

The home run, a solo shot in the ninth inning, was Martin’s first in 21 days. He went into the game batting .146 (six for 41) since July 16.

“My body felt a lot better today and I had some better swings,” Martin said. “It was easier to concentrate. I had a hard time keeping my focus, but today I felt a lot better.”

Martin will get to rest again today, as the Dodgers are off.

The Dodgers were down 3-0 by the time Martin first reached base.

Billingsley gave up a home run to Yorvit Torrealba to start the third and served up a two-run blast to Matt Holliday later in the inning.

Martin scored on a sacrifice fly by Nomar Garciaparra in the fourth, but Todd Helton’s double in the fifth extended the Rockies’ lead to three.

Martin scored again in the sixth, but the Rockies blew the game open in the bottom half of the inning. Rookie reliever Eric Hull walked Jeff Baker with two outs, then gave up hits to the next three batters, resulting in three Colorado runs.

Martin’s home run in the ninth accounted for the first of two Dodgers runs in the inning. The game ended when Andre Ethier struck out with the bases loaded.

Kent had to come out of the game in that inning, as he was hurt legging out an infield single.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com