Greinke gives up late home runs, offense struggles in D-backs loss
Aug 31, 2018, 10:29 PM | Updated: 10:40 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zack Greinke throws to the plate during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Dodger Stadium booed Zack Greinke on Friday.
Los Angeles fans aren’t used to getting outspent for a player, let alone lose one to a division rival.
For the first 6.2 innings, they had every reason to boo him.
Greinke was efficient, throwing first-pitch strikes to 19 of the first 25 batters he faced.
His slow curve stumbled batters throughout.
After a base hit by right fielder Yasiel Puig to lead off the third inning, Greinke didn’t allow another hit until there were two outs in the seventh.
While hitters made solid contact frequently, it often went straight to a defender. Through 6.2 innings, Greinke did very little wrong.
Then he gave up a two-out home run to pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández.
Manager Torey Lovullo elected to let Greinke hit in the bottom seventh. Despite Lovullo changing philosophy recently and giving his starting pitchers a shorter leash, the ace was only at 91 pitches. On Thursday night, Arizona used five relievers over 3.2 innings.
Without a runner in scoring position, Lovullo sent Greinke to lay down a sacrifice bunt.
“I felt like he was throwing the ball extremely well and he deserved that opportunity to go out there and face those two right-handed hitters, those were his last two guys,” Lovullo said on Fox Sports Arizona.
On the first pitch – Greinke’s 22nd and final first-pitch strike of the game — he hung a slider to Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, who drilled it over the left field wall.
“He’s our guy … He’s been our catalyst on the mound,” Lovullo said. “It’s easy to sit right now and say, knowing what the results are, that we would do it differently. Of course I would have done it differently had I known what was the outcome. But I just felt like I was doing the best thing for the matchups.”
Greinke only allowed six hits, but two of them were home runs, and the Dodgers pulled ahead in the bottom eight.
He’s now given up a team-high 25 home runs this season, but 19 have been solo.
As good as Greinke was through most of his outing, Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu matched him. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt jumped on him early with a two-run home run in the first inning, but after that, Ryu only gave up two more hits over his seven frames.
The D-backs offense has scored more than three runs only once in the last eight games.
The top five batters in the lineup Saturday have hit just .197 over that span. Pollock only has two hits in 29 at-bats and Escobar has five in 25.
The team is 3-5 over those games against the Mariners, Giants and Dodgers.
With the loss, the D-backs are now one game over L.A. in the NL West standings. The Dodgers jumped over the Colorado Rockies into second place.
As the calendar flips to September, Arizona and Los Angeles will play two more games to conclude this pivotal four-game series.
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