Greinke Gem Plus Big 6th Too Much For Padres to Overcome

Volquez had his issues today in the 6th inning. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Today’s game needed zero hype as it marked Zack Greinke‘s first trip back to Petco Park since he broke his collarbone in an April brawl.  San Diego’s hitters unfortunately failed to rattle the right-hander, and the Dodgers won the third game of the current series by a score of 6-1.

Edinson Volquez took the mound for the Friars this afternoon, and he was his usual “erratic yet somehow effective” self.  Volquez’s control is what I like to call “a box of Forrest Gump’s chocolates,” because you never know what you are going to witness during an outing of his.  In this particular start, the veteran right-hander was wild yet effective (seven walks, seven strikeouts), and did not even allow a hit over the game’s first five innings.

In typical Volquez fashion though, he still allowed one run in the top of the fifth because he walked the bases loaded with only one out.  Juan Uribe scored on a Skip Schumaker groundout, which could have potentially been an inning-ending double play, and it was definitely a huge momentum swing in Los Angeles’ direction.

Sadly, the wheels finally came off for Edinson in the top of the sixth when the Dodgers took a commanding lead after three runs came around to score before he left the game.  An Adrian Gonzalez solo home run pushed the lead to 2-0, and a Pedro Ciriaco error allowed two runs to come in for Los Angeles after that.

Brad Boxberger could not put out the fire left on the basepaths by Volquez either, and he allowed one more run before the inning mercifully ended with the Dodgers ahead 5-0.  Los Angeles eventually scored another insurance run on a Hanley Ramirez home run, but that was icing on the cake for them.

It looked like Greinke wanted to vent two months’ worth of frustrations out on the Padres, and it looked like he did that very thing this afternoon.  Overall, the right-hander allowed only one run and four hits to go along with eight strikeouts during eight strong innings of work.  What probably made the victory extra sweet was the fact that Carlos Quentin went 0-3 to boot.  The Friars thankfully avoided a shutout in the bottom of the eighth when Yasmani Grandal and Jesus Guzman hit back-to-back-doubles.  Unfortunately for them, the game was far enough out of reach by that point.

Oh well, negativity aside, the Padres must move on to the series finale.  San Diego will send Andrew “Grizzly Adams” Cashner to the hill as they try to avoid a series-split against Los Angeles.  The Dodgers will counter with veteran Chris Capuano, so I hope that the Padres’ right-handed hitters are able to get back on track tomorrow afternoon.