Tomko gives it away early

This was shades of the Freeway Series, with Adam Kennedy, David Eckstein and Jim Edmonds circling the Dodger Stadium bases in red-lettered uniforms. And that was only in the first two innings.

The early legwork by the former Angels left the Dodgers in desperate need of a Rally Monkey on Monday night after the St. Louis Cardinals built an early eight-run lead on their way to an 8-4 victory.

Dodgers starter Brett Tomko dropped his teammates into a cavernous sinkhole from which they could not escape after largely reverting to their previously punch-less ways.

The Cardinals jumped on Tomko for three runs before many fans had settled into their seats and then tacked on three more runs in the second inning and two more in the third.

“Just chalk it up as a bad night and try to sleep it off and come back tomorrow,” Tomko said.

Some of the biggest cheers were showered upon Manager Grady Little as he made the slow walk to the mound to remove Tomko with one out in the third inning. Little essentially waved a white flag two innings later by replacing catcher Russell Martin with reserve Mike Lieberthal.

The Dodgers nonetheless mounted a ninth-inning threat, loading the bases with one out to trigger an appearance by Jason Isringhausen. The Cardinals closer retired pinch-hitter Brady Clark on a foul pop-up but then walked Olmedo Saenz to force in a run and bring the potential tying run to the plate.

But Ramon Martinez could not complete the comeback. He grounded into a game-ending force play and Isringhausen recorded his 10th save.

“It’s definitely hard to come back,” first baseman Nomar Garciaparra said. “But guys didn’t give up and we had a lot of hits out there.”

Tomko’s 2 1/3 innings marked the second-shortest outing by a Dodgers starter this season, behind Jason Schmidt’s two-plus-inning cameo April 14. Tomko’s painful pitching line: Nine hits and eight runs in 56 pitches, with no walks or strikeouts.

The two-run homer Tomko (1-4) surrendered to Chris Duncan in the second inning put an end to the Cardinals’ 93-inning home run drought dating to May 1.

“It was a lot of things,” Tomko said when asked about his worst outing of the season. “I fell behind guys and wasn’t throwing a lot of strikes and had to come in to them. Just a bad day at the office.”

Said Little: “He put too many pitches in the nitro zone on the barrel of the bat.... It was just a bad night all around for him, and it started from the first pitch of the game.”

Kennedy, Eckstein and Edmonds tormented their former Southern California rivals by combining for seven hits -- three by Eckstein -- and four runs to lead the Cardinals to their 10th consecutive victory over the Dodgers dating to 2005.

The former Angels worked exceedingly well in tandem. Kennedy singled and scored on Edmonds’ bloop double in the first inning, and Eckstein doubled and scored on Kennedy’s double that eluded diving right fielder Andre Ethier in the second.

St. Louis’ 13-hit attack was impressive for a team that had been shut out four times in its previous 10 games. The Cardinals came in ranked last in the National League in runs but have made the most of the few they have scored; they are 15-3 when scoring at least three.

The Dodgers hoped they had broken out of an extended slump of their own by collecting 17 runs and 28 hits during their previous two games. But they relapsed Monday despite amassing 12 hits, stranding runners in scoring position in the first, third, sixth, eighth and ninth innings.

Wilson Betemit homered for the first time this season as a starter and Jeff Kent homered for a second consecutive game, giving the second baseman five homers and 350 for his career.

Rafael Furcal had four hits for a second consecutive game and drove in a run to give him 10 hits in his last 11 at-bats.

ben.bolch@latimes.com