Same story, different day.
For the second time in ten days, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated former teammate Zack Grienke and the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2, on Friday night at Chase Field.
Greinke (12-7) pitched better in his home ballpark then he did at Dodger Stadium last week, but was still handed his third consecutive loss after allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits with four strikeouts in six innings.
Greinke looked a lot better than he did in LA on Sept. 5 when he allowed eight runs on five homers, including four in one inning as the Dodgers welcomed back their former ace pitcher with a 10-2 beat down at Dodger Stadium.
The 2015 Cy Young runner-up was tagged for two runs in the first inning on Friday.
Chase Utley led off the game with a double and scored two batters later on a triple by Justin Turner. Greinke's next pitch skipped passed catcher Wellington Castillo allowing Turner to score.
"He tried to go fastball up and he didn't get it up enough," Turner said of the triple. "It kept tailing on Tomas, as I was coming around first, I could see he didn't have the ball yet so I rolled the dice and headed for third."
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Kenta Maeda outpitched Greinke for the second consecutive start, but he ran into trouble with his command in the second inning.
Maeda (15-9) walked the bases loaded as he seemed miffed throughout the inning that he wasn't getting calls on the corner by home plate umpire Chris Conroy.
"My command was off in general today and I wasn't able to get into my groove," Maeda said of the second inning. "Over the course of the game I thought I regained my command, but I put a lot of pressure on the position players to pick up the slack."
The Japanese right-hander collected himself, inducing Mitch Hangier to ground into a fielder's choice to third for the only Arizona run as he got the victory on just three hits, with three walks and six strikeouts in five innings.
The Dodgers tacked on an insurance run in the top of the fourth when Jean Segura pulled his throw to first in what would have been an inning-ending double play allowing Adrian Gonzalez to score.
The boys in blue blanked the Snakes in the final four frames thanks to their NL-leading bullpen, which threw four scoreless innings of relief.
Kenley Jansen allowed a run in the ninth but still recorded his career-best, 45th save of the season, as the closer ranks among the NL's best in saves (45, 2nd), ERA (1.72, 3rd) and WHIP (0.65 1st)
Los Angeles leads the National League West by four games after San Francisco defeated the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park.
Players of the Game:
Justin Turner: RBI triple
Chase Utley: 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Dodgers Bullpen: Four scoreless innings.
Three Takeaways:
1. Stayin' Alive: The Dodgers Triple-A affiliate, Oklahoma City, stayed alive in the Pacific Coast League Championship, with a 4-2 victory over El Paso in Game 3. Brett Anderson allowed one run in four innings of a rehab start in the game as OKC now trails the series 2-1.
OKC won 4-2 against El Paso to force a Game 4 in the PCL Championship Series! Come out tomorrow and cheer on OKC! pic.twitter.com/dSjNVaEu9R — OKC Dodgers (@okc_dodgers) September 17, 2016
2. Racks on Racks on Racks: Kenta Maeda's incentive-laced contract has paid off in his inaugural season as the Japanese right-hander earned another $250,000 bonus on Friday by completing 160 innings pitched on the season. His 2016 salary has rose from a base of $3 million to $9.65 million with bonuses and he's set to make another $1.5 million if he makes his next start. Now that's piling up the cash.
That was a $250K 1-2-3 inning for #Dodgers Kenta Maeda. Hits another bonus with 160 IP. Up to $9.65m for season. $1.5m bonus for next start — Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) September 17, 2016
3. Triple-Double: Justin Turner is not known for his speed, but the red-headed slugger is now leading the Dodgers in triples after his RBI three-bagger in the first inning. Turner now leads the Dodgers in homers (27), RBI (83) and triples (3).
Justin Turner leads the Dodgers in HR (27), RBI (83) and now tied for triples (3) too — Eric Stephen (@truebluela) September 17, 2016
Up Next:
Dodgers (83-63): Rookie Brock Stewart replaces Bud Norris in the starting rotation and will get the start on Saturday.
Diamondbacks (77-69): Right-hander Shelby Miller gets his second crack at the Dodgers in as many weeks as he takes the mound at 5:10PM PST on Saturday.
All quotes courtesy of TWC's SportsNetLA.
