Zack Greinke leads Dodgers to 2-1 win over Giants, Madison Bumgarner

Don’t you like it when stars deliver? All that expectation actually realized?

Baseball saw two of its finest pitchers hook up Tuesday night, the Dodgers’ Zack Greinke matched against the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner.

Both were on top of their games, which is rarefied air in baseball. Both focused and competing with every pitch, every at-bat.

When it was over, Greinke had pitched just a tad better, leading the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory before a Dodger Stadium crowd of 48,060.

Joc Pederson, struggling since the All-Star break, hit a solo homer off Bumgarner in the seventh that ended up being the winning run.

The victory pushed the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West to 5½ games over the Giants, matching their season-high, last reached on July 10.

The Dodgers opened the scoring with a two-out rally in the third after Jose Peraza blooped a single to right. Justin Turner worked a walk and then Adrian Gonzalez singled on the first pitch he saw to score Peraza.

It wasn’t like anyone turned to Greinke and said, “Well, there’s your run,” but it was pretty much understood.

Greinke allowed a second-inning infield single to Buster Posey -- Turner charged the tapper down the line, fielded it and threw on the run but off the mark -- and then really went to work. He retired the side in order in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

All while the Dodgers were collecting a few hits against Bumgarner, but no runs.

They finally pushed their lead to 2-0 in the seventh. Pederson, mired in a three-for-35 slump and only playing against the left-handed Bumgarner because Enrique Hernandez is injured, locked on to a 3-2 fastball and rocketed it out to center.

Not that he had been frustrated, but he actually sprinted around the bases. It was his 24th home run on the season.

Greinke, however, finally wobbled in the eighth. He had already thrown 106 pitches and if Manager Don Mattingly actually had confidence in someone to pitch the eighth, Greinke probably doesn’t start the inning.

The Giants started their rally with one out when pinch-hitter Gregor Blanco singled to center and Angel Pagan followed with a basehit, Blanco stopping at second. Matt Duffy made it three consecutive singles, lining a hit to center to score Blanco.

That ended the night for Greinke, Mattingly calling on left-hander Luis Avilan to face Brandon Belt, which led to the defensive play of the night.

Avilan got Belt to hit a hard bouncer up the middle. Second baseman Peraza made a nice running stop and then flipped the ball out of his glove to Jimmy Rollins covering second to start a double play.

Greinke (15-3) was charged with one run in his 7 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and a walk. He struck out five and lowered his major-league best ERA to 1.59.

Bumgarner (16-7) went seven innings. He gave up the two runs on eight hits and a walk, with eight strikeouts.

Kenley Jansen needed only eight pitches to retire the Giants in order the ninth to pick up his 28th save.