Dodgers Rally Against Zack Greinke to Defeat Diamondbacks, 3-2

It could be one heck of an NLDS.

Cody Bellinger homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied off old friend Zack Greinke to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2, in a potential NLDS preview on Wednesday night at Chase Field. 

Bellinger belted his team-high 33^rd home run of the season off Greinke in the second inning to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead.

The blast was the rookie's first against Greinke of his career, and puts him two home runs shy of Mike Piazza's franchise record for home runs in a season by a Dodgers rookie.

Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the Snakes have a home run slugger of their own and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt put his full power on display against Alex Wood in the fourth inning.

Goldschmidt tied the game when he absolutely demolished a 92MPH four-seam fastball from Wood that traveled 443-feet to dead center with an exit velocity of 109 MPH.

Paul Goldschmidt clobbers a solo home run to center, tying the game at 1 with his 26th dinger of the season!!! #OurSeason pic.twitter.com/sL5YCwjKco— The Render (@TheRenderMLB_) August 10, 2017

Before Goldschmidt's home run, Wood was the best in baseball at preventing the long ball this season, allowing just five total homers in 104.1 innings entering the game.

J.D. Martinez, acquired by the Diamondbacks from the Detroit Tigers to face left-handed pitching, showed his importance to the playoff push when he hit a two-out RBI single off Wood to give the D-Backs a 2-1 lead.

Wood (14-1) outdueled his former teammate Zack Greinke, allowing just two runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts in six strong innings.

"I felt good," Wood said of his start. "I felt like my stuff was back where I wanted it to be. It was a great team win."

Wood improved to 5-3 with a 3.06 ERA in 12 career games against Arizona.

Entering the seventh inning, Greinke  had allowed just one hit—the homer to Bellinger—but the rookie got the best of him again to start the rally in the seventh inning.

Bellinger led off the inning with a double, and scored three batters later on an RBI double by Joc Pederson.

Pederson had been a 0-for-23 slump before the at-bat but happily knocked in the tying run after Greinke, his former teammate, famously said he was "an easy out," last season.

"He made really good pitches in my other at-bats. In that last at-bat he made a mistake and I capitalized," said Pederson of his game-trying double off Greinke. "It was my first hit in a long time. To come up big and help the team win a ballgame was a nice feeling."

Two pitches later, the Dodgers recaptured the lead on an RBI single by Yasiel Puig.

With the home run and double by Bellinger, the Dodgers recorded two or more extra-base hits for the 53^rd consecutive game, the most in the Major Leagues since 1913.

Greinke (13-5), was handed his first loss at home this season by his former team as he allowed three runs on four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts in 6 and 2/3 innings. 

"You want to approach every game like it's the same, but when you have one of their best in Zack Greinke out there, and one of our best in Alex Wood taking the mound, the players look forward to it," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. "Alex wanted to pitch well and Zack knows a lot of these guys and wanted to pitch well against us."

Josh Fields pitched two scoreless innings of relief and Kenley Jansen recorded his 29^th save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.

"I just tried to not make mistakes, especially in a one-run game," Jansen told Alanna Rizzo fo SportsNet LA after the game. "They have great hitters and can do damage against you. I just tried not to take anything for granted and make pitches."

The Dodgers became the first team to win 80 games on the season as they extended their division lead over the Diamondbacks to 16 games.

L.A. improved to 7-5 against Arizona this season in head-to-head matchups and recorded their 34th comeback victory, tied for the most in the Majors this season.

"They're tough," Roberts said of the D-backs. "It's fun to play those guys. We're familiar with each other and each one of these games could have gone either way."

Up Next:

The newest star on the Dodgers will shine brightly on Thursday as Yu Darvish takes the mound against LHP Anthony Banda at 6:40PM PST.