LOS ANGELES — Bad news and losing baseball continued to stalk the Rockies Friday night in a 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki left the game after his at-bat in the third inning. He pulled up as he ran down the first-base line on a groundout.

Tulowitzki left the game with left quadriceps tightness and listed him as day to day.

“I felt it a little bit, so I thought it was better to play it safe,” he said after the game. “As soon as a felt something grab a little bit and tighten, I jogged the rest of the way. It was the best decision to play it safe and not turn this into a bigger problem.”

Asked if he was worried about the injury, he replied, “No, not at all.”

Meanwhile, Tulo’s teammates battled against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who earned the 100th win of his career as Los Angeles held on and improved to 16-4 at Dodger Stadium this season.

The defeat was the Rockies’ 12th in their past 13 games. Since posting a 7-2 record in April, they have gone 5-18 and trail the Dodgers by 9½ games in the National League West.

It was the Dodgers’ 17th win over the Rockies in their past 20 games, dating to 2014.

Kershaw (2-2) pitched 6 innings, allowing three runs on four hits. He departed to a standing ovation in the seventh but with the Rockies back in the game.

The Rockies attacked the left-hander early, with first-inning singles by Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado, but they couldn’t push across a run. Kershaw didn’t give up another hit until Carlos Gonzalez hit a blooper to right to lead off the seventh. DJ LeMahieu drove in CarGo to get the Rockies on the board.

The Rockies added three more runs on a double by Daniel Descalso off reliever Paco Rodriguez. Descalso had replaced Tulowitzki at shortstop in the bottom of the third.

The Rockies had a final chance in the ninth when Blackmon and Descalso singled off reliever Adam Liberatore and then pulled off a double steal to put both of them in scoring position. Into the game came former Rockies right-hander Juan Nicasio, who struck out Nolan Arenado and Wilin Rosario to end the game and notch the first save of his career.

Rosario barely missed connecting on a fastball that he figured was a perfect home run pitch, but he fouled it straight back.

“I almost had it,” he said. “(Nicasio) won this time, but that’s baseball.”

Tulowitzki’s injury history makes the news worrisome, because he has missed 222 games over the past three seasons and has had leg injuries dating to the 2008 season.

Tulo hit .340 with a .432 on-base percentage and 21 homers last season, but his season ended after just 91 games and he underwent season-ending surgery to replace a torn labrum in his left hip.

He said it was the first time this season that’s he’s felt tightness in his quad.

“I can’t even remember the last time,” he said. “It’s been a while.”

Prior to the game, general manager Jeff Bridich was asked if the Rockies had enough talented pitching to pull them out of their funk. He responded: “Yes.”

But rookie starter Eddie Butler, (2-3) who entered the game with a 3.73 ERA, was hijacked by the Dodgers, lasting just 2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits. He walked four and needed 83 pitches in less than three innings.

“It was a rough outing,” said bench coach Tom Runnells, who managed for the second nigh in a row as Walt Weiss recovers from surgery to remove his appendix.

Butler felt he was being squeezed by home-plate umpire Mike Winters, and that, in part, accounted for his high pitch count.

“I was throwing the ball down and keeping it down, but they weren’t being called strikes,” he said. “Then a couple of guys had some long at-bats and were fouling balls off and that elevates the pitch count really fast.”

Jimmy Rollins yanked a one-out solo homer over the right-field wall in the first, but Butler gave up just a single run, wiggling out of a base-loaded jam. The Dodgers added three more runs in the third, the big hits a two-run double by Justin Turner and a run-scoring single by Andre Ethier. First baseman Wilin Rosario’s throwing error contributed to the L.A. rally.

The Dodgers tacked on two more runs against lefty reliever Yohan Flande, one in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or twitter.com/psaundersdp

Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (0-2, 9.56 ERA) vs. Dodgers’ Zack Greinke (5-0, 1.52), 7:10 p.m. Saturday, ROOT; 850 AM

De La Rosa is winless in his first four starts and still trying to get it figured out, while Greinke has been Los Angeles’ best pitcher this season. De La Rosa walked six Dodgers batters in his last start, but then again, he has never pitched very well against them. In 22 games (18 starts) vs. the Dodgers, he’s 5-10 with a 5.89 ERA. At Dodger Stadium he is 1-5 with a 4.84 ERA. Greinke, the American League Cy Young Award winner with the Kansas City Royals in 2009, is 7-for-7 in quality starts this season. He is 7-2 in 15 games (14 starts) against the Rockies, posting a 3.57 ERA.

Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post

Sunday: Rockies’ Kyle Kendrick (1-4, 7.65 ERA) at Dodgers’ Mike Bolsinger (1-0, 1.59), 2:10 p.m., ROOT

Monday: Phillies’ Cole Hammels (3-3, 3.53) at Rockies’ Jordan Lyles (2-3, 4.30), 6:40 p.m., ROOT

Tuesday: Phillies’ Aaron Harang (4-3, 2.03) at Rockies’ Chad Bettis (0-0, 7.20), 6:40 p.m., ROOT