It is hard to say that in a game with St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright on the mound, Hanley Ramirez injured for the Dodgers, and Yasiel Puig playing with questionable health that you expected the Dodgers to win their 15th consecutive road game and for Zack Greinke to win his 100th career game. But with the odds seemingly stacked against them, the Dodgers did just that in a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals.
Greinke did not have his best outing but found a way to get out of several jams throughout the game. Just two batters into the game, he was losing 1-0 after giving up a leadoff double to Matt Carpenter.
He loaded the bases in third and had a runner in scoring position in the fourth, but got out of both situations. In the fifth he gave up a double off the wall to David Freese that would have scored Allen Craig from first, but Puig barehanded the bounce off of the wall, hit cutoff man, Nick Punto, who lasered a throw to home in time for A.J. Ellis to get the tag for the out.
It may just be Puig-Fever, but I do not see how any other player could have made that play happen other than Yasiel. Of course, Punto's throw to home and Ellis' tag were on point, too.
In the seventh inning, he left the game after giving up a walk, single and sac bunt for runners on second and third with one out. In his relief, Ronald Belisario induced a grounder to Adrian Gonzalez who got the out at first, but allowed the run to score.
Greinke did not have much wiggle room as the Dodgers only had six hits for two runs with him on the mound. Andre Ethier and A.J. Ellis both had one RBI, and no Dodger hitter had more than one hit.
In the seventh inning of the 2-2 tie, Zack Greinke took things into his own hands against Wainwright with an RBI single to score Nick Punto. It was the deciding run in the 3-2 game. Greinke is now hitting .405 on the season which is both awesome and hilarious.
Kenley Jansen was given a day of rest, so the ball was in the hands of Paco Rodriguez. He earned his second save of the season after giving up no hits or walks and striking out one for a two-inning save.
The victory puts the Dodgers six games up over the Diamondbacks in the NL West, 15 consecutive road victories dating back to July 6th, and Zack Greinke's 100th career win. It may not be one of his great starts, but it counts as number 100 regardless. Congrats, Zach.
Tweets From #Dodgers Nation
In case you haven't been on Twitter the past few days...its Shark Week.
Dodgers playing like Sharks out for the kill #SharkWeek #Dodgers — autumne gallegos (@a_gallegos3) August 6, 2013
#Sharks have a week dedicated to the #Dodgers... — Alvin Alvarez (@KSFantastic) August 6, 2013
The relay from Puig to Punto to Ellis better be in the Top 10 plays tonight.
Puig to Punto to Ellis..Wow! #Dodgers — HesselMassin (@hesselmassin) August 6, 2013
Now THAT was a relay #Puig #Punto #Dodgers — Ben Ross (@BenjaminARoss) August 6, 2013
Don't forget, "Holy Punto!" too.
HOLY PUIG!!!!! #dodgers — sal schiano (@salschhh) August 6, 2013
Don't forget...12.5 games in front of San Francisco √
15 straight road wins? ✔ 15-2 since all-star break? ✔ 6 game lead in standings? ✔ #dodgers — mike (@iDodgrMike) August 6, 2013
All done for the regular season, let's hope they face each other in playoffs!
When do the #Braves & #Dodgers go at it again? — Var Brook (@mrgoodvar) August 6, 2013
