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PHOENIX — Closer Brandon Lyon said the stinging loss felt like a "dagger."

And Lyon endured the worst of the trauma.

Pitching for the third day in a row, Lyon allowed five runs in the ninth inning Sunday as the Arizona Diamondbacks lost 6-5 to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field.

Now 6-9 in July, Arizona fell into a first-place tie in the NL West with the Dodgers, who won two of the three games in the series. Arizona (48-50) also failed to return to .500.

"In this division, it doesn't seem like anyone's out of it," Lyon said. "It doesn't look like anyone's going to run away with it. We know it's right there to grasp."

Lyon said he felt good, but he has struggled to find command of the fastball. He allowed five hits, three for extra bases, in two-thirds of an inning, as the D-backs' 4-1 lead turned into a 6-4 deficit.

"When you don't have your great command it's tough to go out there and be real aggressive," Lyon said. "That was a little bit of the problem. I didn't get ahead of hitters and fell behind."

Lyon's fifth blown save overshadowed a strong performance from starter Brandon Webb, who allowed a run in eight innings, his longest outing since a complete game on May 31.

His bullpen short-handed because of injuries, manager Bob Melvin turned to Lyon for the third straight day. Lyon threw 28 pitches and allowed two runs in the ninth of Saturday night's 3-2 victory.

"Velocity was there. Everything was there like normal," Melvin said. "Good bite on his breaking ball. Just probably the last two nights didn't have the best command of his fastball."

Matt Kemp drove in the tying run on a two-out double in the ninth, scoring pinch runner Pablo Ozuna from first.

Lyon then allowed a go-ahead triple to Andre Ethier. Leo Rosales replaced Lyon and gave up an RBI single before inducing an inning-ending flyout.

The D-backs also appeared to miss a chance at a double play with runners at first and third and no outs in the inning. Andruw Jones hit a grounder toward shortstop Stephen Drew, but the ball took a funny hop and hit Drew on the hand. He made the throw to first to get the sure out, but the runner on third scored to make the score 4-2.

"If we turn that, it's potentially a different outcome. You never know where the game goes after that," Melvin said.

Drew said he initially wanted to get the out at second before the ball took the strange bounce.

"It's unfortunate," said Drew, who went 4 for 5 for a career-high in hits.

"It would have been a great double-play ball. He got jammed and I don't know if he broke his bat. It had a weird spin to it."

Drew's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth sliced the lead to 6-5. Conor Jackson grounded into a force out to end the game.

With three runs in the first inning, the D-backs have outscored opponents 74-41 in the first this season, but foes hold a 45-26 edge in the ninth.

"We've had our (bullpen) issues here in the last couple weeks," Melvin said. "I don't think anybody hasn't been part of it. But it also has been a strength for us up until the last couple weeks."

● Drew tried for an inside-the-park home run in the fourth on a triple to deep left-center, but center fielder Jones and shortstop Nomar Garciaparra made two strong throws to nab him at the plate. "If it wasn't a one-hopper, I'd beat it out, no question," Drew said of Garciaparra's throw.