Greinke’s bat leads L.A.
When the Los Angeles Dodgers spotted starter Zack Greinke three runs in the top of the first inning Thursday, the lead already seemed safe.
Greinke had allowed more than three runs in a start once this season and had allowed seven total runs over his previous 10 outings, a stretch that included a scoreless streak of 452⁄3 innings.
Instead, Philadelphia Phillies leadoff hitter Cesar Hernandez hit a dribbler in front of the plate that Greinke fielded but threw high and down the rightfield line in what was ruled an infield single and an error. Greinke allowed a twostrike single, a full-count walk, a two-run single and a three-run homer to Domonic Brown, as the first five batters all scored.
“I made an error the first batter, which was bad, then I had a good situation on the next batter but didn’t make a great pitch,” said Greinke, who allowed five or more runs in the first inning for the fourth time in his career. “Just a lot of not good stuff.”
Brown’s home run, Greinke said, allowed him to reset. He yielded one more run over the next five innings and earned the victory, improving to 11-2 as Los Angeles beat Philadelphia 10-8. His ERA rose from 1.41 to a still-leagueleading 1.71.
Despite the scoring outburst, the Dodgers couldn’t have done it without their starting pitcher — Greinke the hitter, that is.
Greinke, whom second baseman Howie Kendrick calls an all-around athlete, starred at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three runs and his fifth career homer, which was accompanied by an exaggerated bat flip.
“I was really annoyed after that first inning, so I had more motivation to try to get some hits,” Greinke said. “I should have got over (the error) quicker, but I should have made that play also.”
Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal calls Greinke, who won a Gold Glove Award in 2014, the best fielding pitcher in the league and likened his presence to having a second shortstop on the field.
Greinke, 31, is known to be an aficionado of scouting and video study. So after the game, Greinke — an accomplished high school hitter who has a .219 average in 274 big-league at-bats and won the pitchers’ 2013 Silver Slugger Award — could have made it to this level as a position player.
“I looked at my high school video, and my swing ’s not as good as I thought it was,” Greinke said. “My confidence then was good enough to make it to the majors, but my swing then was not as good as I remembered.”