What the Dodgers hoped was a drought-busting, six-run, eighth-inning rally in New York on Wednesday looked more like a mirage Friday night, their bats going back into sleep mode for most of a 4-1 loss to the last-place Colorado Rockies in front of a crowd of 47,542 in Dodger Stadium.

An offense that showed signs of life during a three-game sweep of the Mets managed only one run and four hits in seven innings off Rockies starter Dakota Hudson, a 29-year-old right-hander who entered with a 1-7 record and 5.54 ERA in 10 starts this season and did not throw a pitch harder than 91.6 mph Friday night.

The Dodgers, trailing 4-0, stirred in the eighth when they loaded the bases with no outs on a Gavin Lux double and a Miguel Rojas walk off Hudson, and an Andy Pages single off reliever Victor Vodnik, a hard-throwing right-hander.

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But they came away with only one run when leadoff man Mookie Betts grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, Lux scoring to trim the deficit to 4-1, Shohei Ohtani walked and Freddie Freeman struck out on a 94-mph full-count fastball from left-hander Jalen Beeks, who later retired the side in order in the ninth for his sixth save.

Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler, making his fifth start in his return from a second Tommy John surgery, took the loss, giving up four runs — three earned — and six hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking four.

Buehler escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first by striking out Kris Bryant with a 97-mph fastball on the inside corner and Brendan Rodgers with a 96-mph fastball on the outside corner, but he needed 28 pitches to complete the inning — a heavy, out-of-the-gate workload that seemed to take a toll on Buehler a few innings later.

Ezequiel Tovar singled with one out in the third, and Ryan McMahon walked. Buehler got Elias Díaz to fly to right field for the second out, but Bryant roped an RBI single to left field for a 1-0 lead.

Rodgers followed with an RBI single to center field that went under the glove of Pages and rolled to the wall for an error that allowed Bryant to score from first for a 3-0 lead and Rodgers to take third.

Buehler walked Elehuris Montero before getting Brenton Doyle to fly to right on his 26th pitch of the inning, but he hung a first-pitch slider in the fourth to Tovar, who crushed a solo homer to left-center, his eighth of the season, for a 4-0 Colorado lead.

Buehler retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings, striking out Jake Cave looking with a nice 89-mph cut-fastball on his 92nd and final pitch of the evening, but the damage was done.

Closing time

An injury ravaged bullpen got one major piece back Friday when closer Evan Phillips, out since May 5 because of a right-hamstring strain, was activated off the injured list. To clear a roster spot, right-hander Elieser Hernández was designated for assignment.

“Having a guy at the back end that you trust, who was off to a really good start to the season, is great,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It allows me to deploy guys in different lanes, different leverage spots.”

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Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson were tasked with holding leads in the late innings of close games in Phillips’ absence, but Roberts said Phillips, who had an 0.66 ERA in 14 games and converted all eight of his save opportunities before going on the injured list, would return in a closing role.

“They haven’t said anything to me, but I certainly hope I get the pitch when it matters,” Phillips said before the game. “Whether that’s with a lead in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning doesn’t matter to me. You know that.”

Travel issue

The Dodgers were extremely grateful for Thursday’s off day after spending all of Wednesday night on a tarmac at Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport, their charter flight home delayed first by weather, then by mechanical problems.

“That was not fun at all,” Hudson said. “By the time they got the plane fixed, the pilots got timed out. They brought in another crew from an international flight that didn’t take off, but then they said they were fatigued and couldn’t fly. So they had to call in other backups. It was wild.”

The team finally departed around 5:30 a.m. EDT and landed in Los Angeles at about 7:30 a.m. PDT.

“We were on the tarmac, I think, for 8 ½ hours, so we got even more familiar with one another,” Roberts said. “Thank goodness we didn’t have to play [Thursday night].”

Rehab report

Bobby Miller, who has been sidelined since April 14 because of shoulder inflammation, will make his third start for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga at Lake Elsinore on Saturday night, with a target of four to five innings and about 70 pitches.

Roberts said the hard-throwing right-hander, who went 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three starts for the Dodgers, will make at least one more rehabiliation start, for triple-A Oklahoma City, “and then we’ll have a real conversation” about Miller rejoining the rotation.

Relievers Ryan Brasier, out since April 29 because of a right-calf strain, and Joe Kelly, out since May 6 because of a shoulder strain, are weeks away from returning. Brasier has kept his arm activated, while Kelly is playing catch at 90 feet.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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