Greinke fans six in dominant outing vs. Padres
SAN DIEGO -- After a sour ending to their series in Chicago, the D-backs arrived in San Diego Friday and turned to their ace, eager for a clean slate.Their ace delivered, as Zack Greinke stifled the Padres for one run on six hits over seven innings en route to a
SAN DIEGO -- After a sour ending to their series in Chicago, the D-backs arrived in San Diego Friday and turned to their ace, eager for a clean slate.
Their ace delivered, as Zack Greinke stifled the Padres for one run on six hits over seven innings en route to a 6-2 victory at Petco Park. He struck out six and didn't issue a walk in his third straight outing of seven innings or more.
"There was a good balance," Greinke said. "Location, pitches were pretty good, that was the key. I had some balls hit harder early on at guys to make it a little easier and some double plays, which was nice also."
The performance was nothing new for Greinke, given his opponent. Greinke ranks among the all-time leaders against San Diego in ERA and opponent's batting average, and is the leader in winning percentage and WHIP. With the win, he improved his lifetime record against San Diego to 11-2 in 21 career starts and lowered his ERA to 2.10, tied for fourth-lowest all-time against San Diego.
"I started facing them a lot when I started pitching really good in general," Greinke said. "It's a good place to pitch here, L.A. was a good place to pitch. [The Padres'] offense has never been in the top of the league, so it's a good combination."
With the D-backs in the heart of a pennant race -- they sit in second place, 1 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the National League West -- Greinke's long-running dominance couldn't be coming at a more opportune time. He is 7-0 in his last eight starts with a 1.53 ERA and has won his last six road starts while posting a 1.59 ERA. He improved to 12-5 on the year and lowered his ERA to 2.96, the sixth-lowest in the NL.
Greinke's lone mistake occurred in the second inning when
"Today was not an easy day, I'm not going to lie," manager Torey Lovullo said. "I didn't sleep well after last night's [loss to the Cubs], but I think we turned the page effectively.
"The right guy stepped on the mound and gave us a great effort and allowed us to do those things."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
When Arizona acquired
The D-backs erupted for a six-run third inning, batting around and knocking Padres starter
"We were patient with balls out over the plate," Lovullo said. "We never let [Perdomo] get in a rhythm. We talked about jumping on him quickly, and we had two pitches that we were really zeroed in on. As you can see, the guys did a good job on not missing them."
SOUND SMART
With a single and a walk on Friday,
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Katie Woo is a reporter for MLB.com based in San Diego. Follow her on Twitter @katiejwoo.