Dodgers Finally Score Zack Greinke a Run, Greinke Snaps Winless Streak

Zack Greinke finally won a game, and the Dodgers finally scored him a run. No the universe did not collapse onto itself. Nor did the space time continuim rupture. As a matter of fact nothing happened to the space time fabric at all. It’s just that it had been so long since Greinke won a decision and the Dodgers actually scored him a run. Greinke had not recorded a win since May 8, and the Dodgers hadn’t scored a run with him on the mound in 22 consecutive innings. Those streaks came to an end as the Dodgers defeated the Marlins 2-0 Sunday afternoon to earn a series win.

Dodgers 2 7 0

Marlins  0 5 0

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Greinke’s winless streak was of course through no fault of his own. The pathetic Dodger offense is unable to muster up well anything at all when he pitches for some frustrating reason. On Sunday Greinke was fabulous again. He threw 7.2 scoreless frames, allowing just four hits, one walk and striking out six. Greinke allowed just two base runners to reach scoring position. The bird like right hander is now 6-2 with an MLB leading 1.58 ERA. The offense was certainly useless as usual, but managed to eek out two runs. One of them was thanks to an infield single, balk, sacrifice, and a botched double play grounder.

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Greinke’s mound opponent rookie right hander Jose Urine, a Dominican hurler that Orel and Nomar kept referring to as “little Pedro” kept the Dodgers to one earned run on four hits across five frames. However he struggled with his control, issuing four walks and whiffing four.

The Dodgers scored two runs on seven hits. Miami pitching issued eight walks to the Dodgers. The Dodgers scored one run in the fifth, and then added an insurance run in the seventh inning. In the fifth inning an infield single, balk, sacrifice, and botched double play grounder scored the Dodgers a run.

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Jimmy Rollins started it by beating out an infield single to deep second base. Former Dodger Dee Gordon made a great play that made it look close, but Rollins was safe by a step. Then with Greinke at the plate squaring up to bunt, Urina flinched and was called for balk. That advanced Rollins to second. The Dodgers took advantage of the gift. Greinke got the sacrifice down and moved Rollins to third. Urina pitched around Joc Pederson to walk him and setup a double play. It almost worked. Howie Kendrick’s fielder’s choice grounder scored Rollins as Kendrick was safe at first. Pederson’s hard slide into second pulled Hechavarria’s throw offline. The errant throw pulled Justin Boar off the bag, and the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead. Greinke rejoiced to the heavens as the Dodger run touched home plate.

The Dodgers got one more in the seventh. With Mike Dunn on the mound and two outs, Kendrick walked. Then Gonzo doubled him home to put the Dodgers ahead 2-0. Adrian Gonzalez had three hits on the night and went 3 for 5. Kendrick collected two of the Dodger’s seven hits.

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The Dodger bullpen turned in another solid performance. In the bottom of the eighth, Greinke was hooked with two outs and left hander Adam Liberatore came into the game to retire Gordon. Then Kenley Jansen pitched the bottom of the ninth to earn his eleventh save of the season. There was a bit of a scare as Christian Yelich reached on a lead-off double. Kenley was not fazed. He struck out Hechavarria and Ozuna. Then he got Derek Dietrich to foul out to Yasmani Grandal for the final out. The Dodgers won 2-0!

The Dodgers improve to 43-34 and are hanging on to a one game lead over the Giants in the National League West. The club will depart for Arizona to finish up the final leg of their ten game road trip. They’ll play three games at Chase Field before returning home on Thursday to open a ten game home stand. Mike Bolsinger will counter former Dodger farm hand Allen Webster in the series opener Monday evening at 6:40 PM.

Go Blue!