Dodgers’ big bats come up small in 10-0 loss to Rockies

DENVER — The Greatest Lineup in Dodgers History couldn’t score Monday night.

At Coors Field, one of baseball’s notorious hitter-friendly park.

Against Jeff Francis, who entered the game with a 5.79 earned-run average.

The Dodgers were blown out by the last-place Colorado Rockies, 10-0, as the Big Four of Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier were a combined one for 14.

Josh Beckett wasn’t great but also wasn’t awful in his Dodgers debut. Facing a depleted Rockies lineup that counted Carlos Gonzalez as its only recognizable player, Beckett was charged with three runs and seven hits over 52/3 perfectly decent innings.

The Dodgers are 1-2 since their $260-million haul that brought them Gonzalez and Beckett from the Boston Red Sox. The so-called New York Yankees of the West are now 21/2 games back of the first-place San Francisco Giants in their division.

“We didn’t get any big hits today,” Kemp said.

Or many hits at all, for that matter. Their total on this night: four.

But Kemp was referring especially to one at-bat, in the eighth inning, when he came to the plate with one out and men on the corners. With the Dodgers trailing only 3-0 at the time, Kemp grounded into an inning-ending double play.

“We had a situation to do something big and I roll over to the third baseman and hit into a double play,” Kemp said. “You can’t be doing that.”

The Dodgers had only a couple of other chances to score before that.

Kemp doubled in the first inning, which was followed by a line drive to right field from Gonzalez. But the ball was hit directly at Andrew Brown and the inning was over.

The Dodgers had men on second and third with one out in the fifth inning but had Beckett up. Beckett struck out, as did leadoff hitter Shane Victorino.

The crafty Francis pitched five innings for the Rockies, which was followed by a combined four innings of one-hit ball by relievers Josh Roenicke, Rex Brothers and Matt Belisle.

Ramirez was 0 for 4, making him hitless in his last 14 at-bats.

Ramirez, who was acquired from the Miami Marlins last month, hit .330 in his first 23 games with the Dodgers. He is batting .125 over his last eight games.

He blamed the placement of the balls he hit, rather than his swing, for his decrease in production.

“What can I say?” Ramirez said. “I can’t find a hole right now.”

Manager Don Mattingly claimed he was satisfied with his team’s at-bats, as was Gonzalez.

The Dodgers scored only two runs the previous day in a loss to the Marlins.

“We’re putting together good at-bats, it’s just the end result isn’t there,” Gonzalez said. “Guys are seeing six, seven pitches per at-bat, working the count well. But at the end of the day, it’s about getting on base and keeping the line moving.”

The Rockies blew open the game by scoring seven runs in the eighth inning, four of which were charged to closer Kenley Jansen.

A bad night nearly turned into a catastrophic one that inning, when Kemp crashed into the chain-linked fence embedded in the wall in right-center field as he pursued a two-run triple by Tyler Colvin.

Kemp was visited by a trainer in center field but remained in the game.

“It’s not that big a deal,” Kemp said. “Live to see tomorrow.”

The Dodgers have 33 games remaining in the regular season.

If they’re concerned, they aren’t letting on.

“We’re good,” Kemp said. “We have a lot of games left. We have a whole ‘nother month.

“Nobody’s panicking around here. We know what we’re capable of doing. We’re going to get the job done.”

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com