Zack Greinke victimized again by lack of run support from Dodgers

Again, Zack Greinke pitched well enough to win.

And, again, he didn’t.

Greinke’s winless streak extended to seven starts Saturday night in a 2-1 defeat to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, as the two-time All-Star was let down once more by the Dodgers’ lineup.

If Greinke was frustrated, he didn’t say it.

“The first six years of my career, it was worse than that,” he said.

Greinke spent those seasons with the Kansas City Royals. They never finished higher than fourth place in the American League Central while he was there.
“You just do what you do,” Greinke said.

Greinke has posted a 2.28 earned-run average over his winless streak.

On this night, he pitched eight innings. He was charged with two runs and eight hits.

But an eighth-inning slider caught too much of the plate and was blasted into left-center field by Justin Upton for a home run that decided the game.

“That was the first bad slider I threw all day,” he said.

Greinke said of Upton: “That’s his specialty. You make a mistake, he does a lot of damage.”

The home run was the 13th of the season for Upton.

The Dodgers offense was virtually nonexistent, collecting only five hits.

Padres starter Ian Kennedy limited the Dodgers to a run and four hits over the first seven innings of the game.

Kennedy entered the game with a 3-5 record and 6.48 ERA.
Asked about how a pitcher with such numbers could shut down his team, Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said, “That’s in the past. Tonight is tonight.”