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Zack Greinke returning to form for Dodgers

Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke throws against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday.
Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke throws against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday.
(Alex Gallardo / Associated Press)
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Seven innings, no runs, four hits, three walks, seven strikeouts. That’s a very solid line from any starting pitcher.

For Zack Greinke, pitching Thursday night against the Atlanta Braves, it was his best outing in almost a full calendar year.

Yasiel Puig stole the spotlight — crushing an eighth-inning grand slam to bring his career (four-game) totals to three home runs and nine runs batted in — but Greinke showed flashes of his 2009 American League Cy Young form.

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After five straight sub-six inning performances, he may finally be returning to form.

“He had great command of all four of his pitches,” catcher Tim Federowicz said. “He could do anything he wanted with them -- backdoor, front door, he just had a really good mix going. He had hitters guessing from both sides of the plate on fastballs and breaking balls.

“Any pitcher that does that will have success.”

In just one night, his seventh start of the season, Greinke shrunk a near-career high 4.80 earned-run average to 3.89, picking up his third win in the process. He threw a season-high 117 pitches in his longest outing of the season, showed command of all three of his secondary pitches and struck out Atlanta batters in each of the first four innings.

Despite not having the fastball velocity he would have liked, Greinke kept the Braves lineup off balance. For the first time since June 22, he held a team scoreless for as many as seven innings.

“You can go through slumps at any time. Whether it’s midseason, early in the season, same thing with pitching,” Greinke said. “Right now it’s not my sharpest, but I’m just working on it, trying to get better and it worked out good today.”

Greinke got some help from his defense, too.

Federowicz threw out Justin Upton at second on an attempted steal in the third inning before Greinke charged a popped-up Tim Hudson bunt in the fifth. He snared the ball shin-high before lobbing it to first to double off B.J. Upton.

Greinke stayed out of significant trouble until the seventh inning, when back-to-back singles from Freddie Freeman and Brian McCann put Atlanta runners on the corners with no outs.

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But Greinke struck Dan Uggla out swinging, beating him with a 71 mph curveball before getting Ramiro Pena to line out to left.

“I’m thinking if [Uggla] gets on we’ll make a move,” Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said. “If he gets Uggla, then we really want to give him Pena because we don’t want to go righty there.”

Two up, two down. In steps B.J. Upton, 3-for-21 all-time against Greinke. This time, Greinke got Upton to pop up a cutter into right field to end the inning.

With only nine pitches, he avoided any runs.

“That’s what I want to do, but I’ve been pitching bad,” Greinke said. “I think Donnie’s been wanting to let me do it, but I’ve kind of had to prove that I can get outs.”

In the locker room after the game, the dozen-plus media members surrounding Greinke quickly moved on when Puig and his translator strolled into the center of the clubhouse.

It was his show, after all. But that doesn’t seem to bother Greinke.

“We’ve got a lot of veteran players so sometimes it’s nice to have a young guy come in,” Greinke said. “I’m not predicting the future if it’s going to continue to work out great, but so far it’s been nice.

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