Los Angeles

Zack Greinke Beats Bumgarner, Giants in Battle of Baseball's Best Arms

Joc Pederson homered off Bumgarner and Greinke allowed just one run over seven innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants 2-1 to extend their lead in the NL West to 5.5 games.

In a town full of stars and blockbusters, Dodger Stadium hosted the best show in town on Tuesday night when reigning World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner dueled former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke in a good ol' fashioned pitchers' duel.

Joc Pederson homered off Bumgarner and Greinke allowed just one run over seven innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants 2-1 to extend their lead in the NL West to 5.5 games.

Greinke (15-3) struck out five batters, throwing seven scoreless innings before running into trouble in the top half of the eighth. One of the leading candidates for the 2015 NL Cy Young Award, Greinke allowed just one run on five hits in 7.1 innings.

"It was a really good game all the way around," Greinke said. "I was pitching good, Madison was pitching good. Our defense was good, their defense was good, overall it was a really good game."

Greinke lowered his MLB-best ERA to 1.59, currently good for fourth all-time for single-season ERA. Sandy Koufax has the lowest single-season ERA in Dodgers franchise history at 1.73.

Greinke is now 7-0 against the Giants in his career and won his seventh consecutive start against them.

"We faced a greater pitcher today," Bochy said of Greinke. "He threw great and our guy threw well, we expected it to be a close game."

Bumgarner (16-7) pitched just as well, but was bested by Greinke in the battle of two of the best arms in baseball. Other than a two-out bloop single to left field in the third that scored the speedy Jose Peraza, Bumgarner's only other mistake was a fastball left up to Pederson.

Bumgarner allowed two runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts in seven strong innings, but lost for the first time since July 31, snapping a five-game winning streak.

Bumgarner is now 2-1 with a 1.63 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers this season.

"I didn't expect to be on the losing side of a 2-1 ballgame," Bumgarner said after the tough loss. "We're still playing pretty good baseball. Last night was a tough one, tonight was too, we're just one big hit or one big play from winning those games."

Peraza is winning Dodger fans over with his sensational speed. After a two-out bloop single, Peraza advanced to second after a five-pitch walk to Justin Turner.

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"My speed is helpful for this team," Peraza said through a translator. "I just want to be able to contribute to this team with my speed and hopefully it will keep on going."

One pitch later, Peraza scored on an Adrian Gonzalez single to left field that Peraza got a great break on. Any other player but Peraza would not have been able to score on the play.

One night after knocking in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning of Yusmeiro Petit, Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a double, and an RBI off the Giants ace.

"That's definitely a ball where you might hold a guy," Gonzalez said. "It's great that Peraza was the one out there. You always want a guy with speed on your team."

Zack Greinke worked his way out of a jam in the top of the seventh inning. After a leadoff single by Brandon Belt and a walk to Buster Posey, Greinke retired the next three batters he faced, including striking out Giants newcomer, Alejando De Aza with runners on second and third.

"I made a close pitch to De Aza for a strikeout and a good pitch to the next guy," Greinke said to get out of the inning. "I also got some good plays behind me."

Joc Pederson, who batted ninth for the first time in his career, hit a monster home run off Bumgarner in the bottom of the seventh inning. The 400-foot blast was Pederson's 24th on the season, and just the second homer allowed by Bumgarner to a lefty since Bryce Harper earlier in the year.

"I didn't want to walk him and I felt like I had the advantage there," Bumgarner said. "He jumped on it. I had to throw a strike right there, but it wasn't a quality strike."

The defensive play of the game came with runners on first and second with one out in the eighth inning. Luis Avilan entered the game to face Brandon Belt who blasted a groundball up the middle. Peraza made a sensational backhanded grab and glove flip to shortstop Jimmy Rollins for the inning-ending double play.

"I was trying to make a good play on the ball and get it to Jimmy," Peraza said through a translator. "Thank God it worked out."

Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his 28th save of the season.


Game Notes:
Bruce Bochy was ejected just before the bottom of the seventh inning for arguing with home plate umpire Mike Winters.
 

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