Dodgers Pummel Zack Greinke 10-2 in his Return to Dodger Stadium

Dodger Dog? $6.00. Beer? $10.00. Watching your former star pitcher get shelled in his return to Dodger Stadium? Priceless.

Zack Greinke was beaten and battered by his former teammates as the Los Angles Dodgers devoured the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10-2, on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

Adrian Gonzalez, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal all went deep off their former teammate as the Home Run party was in full force on Labor Day.

"That was absolutely surprising. Could I forsee five home runs? Absolutely not," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "With our lineup we made him pay tonight. We got him again here shortly and he's going to be ready for us, but we're going to celebrate tonight."

Greinke (12-5) returned to the Ravine just 11 months after he last stepped off the mound during his Game 5 loss to the New York Mets in the NLDS that eliminated the Dodgers from the postseason for the third straight year.

If the 2015 runner-up to the Cy Young Award expected to receive a hearty welcome after he helped lead the Dodgers to three consecutive division titles, he was dead wrong.

"I felt bad about not getting him out of there earlier," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said. "I didn't want him to have to give up those other runs. Usually, he's able to get out of those innings. I was surprised."

The nearly 42,000 fans in attendance taunted their former hero, raining down boos, obscenities, and chants of "Greinke sucks" towards the man who opted out of the final year of his contract with Los Angeles to sign the richest per season deal in MLB history with the rival Diamondbacks.

"I don't really think about them anymore," Greinke said of the boos from the fans. "I felt real comfortable out there. It just didn't go well."

Arizona has been dealing with buyer's remorse this year after Greinke has turned in one of the worst seasons of his career. His 4.54 ERA is the second largest since 2005 and his 21 home runs allowed are tied for the third most in his career with an entire month left to go.

"I don't know why," Greinke shrugged when asked why his ERA was so high this season. "I've felt pretty good each time I've pitched, but I don't know why it hasn't worked out."

In all of 2015, Greinke posted an MLB-best 1.66 ERA and allowed just eight homers at Dodger stadium all year. On Monday, he served up a career-high five long balls to his former teammates and allowed eight runs on nine hits in just 4 and 2/3 innings, falling to the Dodgers for the first time in his career.

"I think they had a good plan and they stuck with it," Greinke said of why he struggled. "Their guys executed their plan and they stuck with it. I think it worked if that's what they did."

To put that in perspective, Greinke allowed eight or fewer runs in four different months of the 2015 season for the Dodgers. On Monday, he allowed eight runs in one game against them.

"He still struck me out, so I'm probably still an 'easy out,'" said Pederson who hit one of the homers off Greinke after the former Dodger told him he was an 'easy out' last season. "It was nice to get him back a little bit."

The Dodgers hit four of their five homers in a six-run fifth inning that saw the team go back-to-back for the sixth time this year. The four dingers by the Dodgers was the second time this season they've homered four times in one inning, with the last time coming on August 22^nd in Cincinnati.

"My first few innings were really good, but that last inning I wasn't sharp," Greinke said of the nightmare fifth inning. "I made a bat pitch to Joc, and then after that I got hit hard the rest of the way. Good at-bats by them."

Grandal chased Greinke from the game with the fifth and final homer of the game. It was the catcher's career-best, third consecutive game with a home run, and his MLB-leading 24th amongst backstops.

Seager went 3-for-5 and was a triple shy of the cycle as he continues to feast on his former teammate. The rookie's fifth inning homer was his second against Greinke in as many games.

"Greinke's really good," Seager said of his success against his former teammate. "He's so strategic with everything he throws that it's fun to play with him. It's a chess match. It was one of those things where I got a few good pitches I could handle and put some good swings on balls."

Kenta Maeda, who made 10 times less money than Greinke this season, got the victory allowing just one run on three hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in 6 and 1/3 innings for the Dodgers.

"Going into the game I didn't think it was going to be a blowout win," Maeda said through a translator. "But I was surprised that we were able to score a lot. I felt like I had my fastball working today throughout the whole game."

Maeda (14-8) retired 18-straight batters after allowing a leadoff single to Jean Segura to start the game as he left in the seventh inning to a standing ovation by the grateful fans in attendance. 

Los Angeles extended their lead in the National League West to four games over the San Francisco Giants as they moved to a season-high 17 games over .500.

Players of the Game:

Corey Seager: 3-for-4 with a single, double, home run and 3 RBI.
Adrian Gonzalez: Two-run home run
Kenta Meada: 1 run on 3 hits with 8 strikeouts. 

Three Takeaways:

1. Strike Em' Out, Rook: Kenta Maeda moved into fifth place in the Los Angeles Dodgers all-time franchise list of strikeouts in a single season by a rookie pitcher with 155 so far on the season.

Top Dodger rookies in single-season strikeouts:
236 Nomo (1995)
209 Sutton (1966)
180 Valenzuela (1981)
169 Singer (1967)
155 Maeda (2016) — Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) September 6, 2016

2. Attack Zack: In his three seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers between 2013-2015, Zack Greinke, never allowed more than five earned runs in a single game. On Monday, he allowed eight, surrendering a career-high five homers.

Zack Greinke started 98 games for the Dodgers from 2013-15. He never allowed more than five earned runs in a game. Today he allowed eight. — J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) September 6, 2016

3. Veinte: The Los Angeles Dodgers top-five home run hitters this season all went deep off former teammate Zack Greinke on Monday. Joc Pederson hit his 20^th home run, giving the Dodgers four different home run hitters with 20 or more for the first time since 2001. The all-time record is five in 2000, and Adrian Gonzalez is now just three homers shy after his launched his 17^th in the fourth inning.

Dodgers have four 20-HR hitters for first time since 2001, Club record is 5 (1979, 2000). Gonzalez 3 awy https://t.co/p59O4e8cB8 — Eric Stephen (@truebluela) September 6, 2016

Up Next:

Diamondbacks (58-79): Struggling star, Shelby Miller, starts for Arizona on Tuesday.

Dodgers (77-60): Rookie Ross Stripling heads to the hill on Tuesday at 7:10 PM PST.