A gateway to defeat for Dodgers

After going through seven pitchers in Sunday’s 17-inning victory over the San Diego Padres, Dodgers Manager Grady Little hoped he could put a lock on the bullpen gate for Monday night’s series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.

Little gave the ball and a long leash to left-handed starter Randy Wolf.

Wolf used every inch of that leash, struggling from the second pitch of the game, which Arizona leadoff batter Chris Young hit over the right-field wall at the 375-foot sign, the first of his two homers in the game.

By the time Wolf (3-3) gave the ball back to Little, the Dodgers were well on their way to a 9-1 defeat that knocked them into second place in the NL West at 15-11, half a game behind Arizona, which has won six in a row.

With Wolf charged with six of the runs, the Dodgers gave up season highs in runs and hits (17) after shutting the Padres out over the last 10 innings Sunday.

And by the time Monday was over, Little had thrown his bullpen gate open, going through a total of four pitchers.

“It just wasn’t a good vibe out there tonight,” said Dodgers center fielder Juan Pierre. “We just couldn’t push anything across. We just have to let this one roll off our backs.”

Ineffective with a fastball that was consistently clocked in the 80s and a slow-breaking curve, Wolf gave up 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. Along with five strikeouts, he walked four and hit a batter. Only 63 of his 110 pitches were strikes.

“I wasn’t really very good,” Wolf said. “I didn’t do my job. I couldn’t throw a curve to save my life today.”

Arizona right-hander Brandon Webb (2-1) got the victory, holding the Dodgers to a run and four hits in seven innings.

“He throws that sinker up and then the bottom drops out,” Pierre said of Webb, the NL Cy Young Award winner last season. “And he throws a lot of strikes, man.”

The Diamondbacks got to Wolf for three runs in the fifth. With Orlando Hudson aboard on a leadoff single, Eric Byrnes hit a ball down the line that eluded third baseman Wilson Betemit before dying in the left-corner corner. By the time left fielder Luis Gonzalez caught up with it, Hudson was well on his way home with Arizona’s second run. Chris Snyder made it 3-0 with a single to center.

The Diamondbacks added a third run in the inning when Webb hit a short fly into right-center that a diving Pierre got his glove on, but couldn’t hold.

Little went to the mound at that point, but still not the bullpen, determined to rest his weary relievers.

Finally in the sixth, after the Diamondbacks scored again on a Hudson single and a Chad Tracy double, Little could wait no longer. Rudy Seanez came on in relief of Wolf.

His first pitch was driven into right field by Tony Clark, upping the Arizona lead to 6-0.

The Dodgers’ only run came in the seventh, when Andre Ethier singled home Marlon Anderson.

The final insult came after the game when the showers in the Dodgers clubhouse malfunctioned.

Said Gonzalez: “It was just a dirty night all around.”

steve.springer@latimes.com