HOUSTON -- As another relief pitcher went down with an injury Tuesday night -- rookie lefty Kent Emanuel left the game with elbow discomfort after throwing four balls -- the Astros’ pitching woes deepened in a 9-2 loss to the Dodgers at Minute Maid Park.

Astros starter Zack Greinke matched former teammate Clayton Kershaw for three innings before Justin Turner blasted a two-run homer in the fourth to score Mookie Betts, who had walked. A pair of two-out walks in the sixth hurt Greinke, who gave up a bloop single by Chris Taylor to make it 4-0.

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Greinke, who became the seventh player in the Wild Card era to reach 3,000 innings pitched in the second frame, gave up four runs, three walks and three hits in six innings, and things only got worse when Houston’s beleaguered bullpen took over.

“I threw more balls than is ideal,” said Greinke, who threw 50 of 88 pitches for strikes. “I got behind on some counts. It all kind of started in the fourth inning, just getting behind some guys and not throwing strikes. It ended up hurting us pretty bad after a while.”

Astros relievers walked six batters -- four by Andre Scrubb, including two with the bases loaded in the eighth -- and they gave up five hits and four runs in three innings. In all, Houston’s pitchers have walked 23 batters in the last three games, including 17 in the past two.

“It’s tough to watch,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “I think their first three out of four runs were scored on walks. That’s what hurt Greinke prior to the home run, and then after that, we couldn’t really find the plate. It’s tough to watch, and I’m sure it was tough on the guys that were throwing the balls. It was tough on the fans, it was tough on everybody, including the guys that were pitching. We certainly have to be better than that, especially on national TV.”

As the Dodgers batted around in the eighth to put the game out of reach, the Astros helped Los Angeles’ cause by walking four batters and hitting one batter. Enoli Paredes, who’s walked 11 batters in 4 1/3 innings this year, was lifted after a walk loaded the bases.

“I still have confidence in him because he has the stuff,” Baker said. “He was throwing harder tonight than since he’s been back [from an oblique injury]. It was nice to see 96, 98 [mph]. He just couldn’t locate. [Pitching coach Brent Strom is] pulling his hair out, little hair he has left, trying to figure out what the problem is.”

Next up was Emanuel, who threw four balls to Matt Beaty to force in a run and was promptly pulled from the game with what Baker later said was left shoulder discomfort.

"He didn’t throw one strike warming up, he didn’t throw one strike to the first batter he faced,” Astros catcher Martín Maldonado said. “He’s a guy that throws a lot of strikes. … His velo was down, too. He was 88-89 when the guy throws 92.”

Next up was Scrubb, who had as much time to warm up on the mound as he needed. It didn’t matter. He walked the first two batters he faced to force in runs and walked two more in the ninth. A steady hand as a rookie reliever last year, Scrubb has a 6.35 ERA in ‘21.

“As a catcher, it’s a little bit frustrating. But at the same time, nobody is trying to walk anybody,” Maldonado said. “I’ll probably talk to the guys about pounding the strike zone a little bit more. It’s kind of hard, but stay over the plate more. As a catcher, we’re going to see some video tomorrow and assess if we can help them with that.”

Baker said the onus is on the starters to work deeper into games. Since Greinke threw eight innings last Wednesday to beat the A’s, the only starter to complete six innings is … Greinke on Tuesday.

“We got to get deeper in the ballgame so we can mix and match and not just put guys out there that are the most rested,” Baker said. “Right now, we’re going with who’s the most rested, as opposed to matchups.”