PHOENIX -- Zack Greinke knew his start Monday night against the Padres was going to have a bit of a cat-and-mouse feel to it considering he had faced them just five days before in San Diego.
The veteran right-hander altered his pitch sequencing with great success as he struck out 11 over six innings in the D-backs' 7-6 win at Chase Field.
"Tried to pitch them a little bit different this time," said Greinke, who improved to 2-2. "I felt like they were getting a little more on it as the game went on. I tried to mix it up a little bit this time. Slider was really sharp today. Two games in a row now."

Last time out against the Padres, Greinke deserved a better fate. He allowed just one run -- an eighth inning homer by Erick Aybar -- in a 1-0 loss.
This time around, Greinke once again faced off against right-hander Jhoulys Chacin, but this time it was the D-backs hitters who were able to make better adjustments.
"Give our hitters some credit, they understood how Chacin was going to work and they waited him out and hit some quality pitches," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "Our guys deserve some credit, I think they were ready for that moment and Zack obviously did a good job of staying one step ahead of them and having a really good day once again."

Greinke allowed one run on six hits and did not walk a batter.
It wasn't just his pitching, but also his hitting that played a key role in the game.
With two outs in the fifth, Greinke started a four-run rally with a bloop single to right-center that just ticked off the glove of a diving Hunter Renfroe.
"Just put it in a nice location," Grienke said. "Just far enough away from the outfielders."

A walk and a single then loaded the bases before Chris Owings unloaded them with his first career grand slam.
"When I got to first I was not running good today, I was going pretty slow so it was going to take three hits to get me in," Greinke said with a smile. "After the next two guys got on I was like it's tough to get three hits, but Chris had a nice hit."

It's not that Greinke puts more into his hitting than his pitching, but he does take that aspect of his game seriously.
"Zack is a very offensive-minded pitcher," Lovullo said. "He's looking to grind out at-bats and get on base and he's frustrated like any hitter is when he doesn't have the type of approach or type of result that he wants."
Monday he got the results he wanted -- both on the mound and at the plate.