Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer looked to face-off Sunday afternoon in what hoped to be a pitcher’s duel; We sure got one. Scherzer once again posted a quality start going 6 innings, but he gave up 1 run on 7 hits, all while striking out 8. The one run Scherzer gave up came in the 4th inning on a wild pitch, leading way for Andre Ethier to score from third base. Scherzer also gave up one walk today, which ended his walk-less streak at an impressive 39 2/3 innings.
Although Scherzer gave a quality start again on Sunday, he was far from his best. These days you must be at your best if you want to outduel Greinke. Greinke went 8 brilliant innings while only giving up 3 hits with 1 walk and 11 strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 1.30. Greinke is now at a 43 2/3 scoreless streak, which is the longest by any pitcher since Orel Hershiser’s record 59 scoreless in 1988. Greinke will take this streak into Friday night when he faces off against the New York Mets. Greinke has now started 19 games and has only given up 19 earned runs.
With all of the talk about the Dodgers needing another top of the rotation pitcher, having a back-to-back of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke is better than anyone in the league. If they were to add another pitcher into this rotation they would be scary to face in the playoffs. If today was any preview of what could be the NLCS, we are in store for an exciting postseason.
The Dodgers pulled away in this game after scoring 4 runs in the 9th off Jake Treinen, thus paving way to a 5-0 victory over the Nationals.
