The Brewers acquired Zack Greinke in the offseason to help put them over the top on the National League Central. They had no idea how much he would enjoy pitching at Miller Park.
Greinke aims to win a fifth straight start and keep his perfect home record intact this evening as division-leading Milwaukee continues a four-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Greinke is on his second four-start winning streak of the season and brings an 8-0 mark and 3.36 earned run average in 10 games at Miller Park into tonight's start. He has a 1.75 ERA in his past seven outings and is coming off a victory over the Pirates on Friday in which he gave up two runs on six hits and one walk over 7 2/3 innings, striking out nine.
"That's probably as good as I've seen him. His location was outstanding, and his fastball was going in and out of the zone," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said about Greinke, who last won five straight starts when he opened his 2009 American League Cy Young Award-winning 2009 season.
The 27-year-old is 11-4 with a 4.08 ERA with the Brewers and has faced the Dodgers just once before. He did not get a decision after yielding three runs over five innings.
While the Brewers are going with a streaking veteran, the Dodgers turn to rookie Nathan Eovaldi for his third career start and have come away with victories over the 21-year-old's first two outings.
Eovaldi was awarded a win in his MLB debut in Arizona on Aug. 6, allowing two runs over five innings. He did not factor into the decision of his next start on Friday versus the Astros even though he threw six scoreless innings of two- hit ball. The right-hander walked four and struck out three in a game the Dodgers won, 1-0, in 10 innings.
The 2008 draft pick will try to get the Dodgers on the board in this series after the Brewers won a pitchers' duel last night, 2-1. Pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Milwaukee to its fifth straight victory and 18th in 20 games.
Corey Hart drove in the other run for the Brewers, who extended their lead over the second-place Cardinals in the NL Central to seven games.
"You can't let up," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "You have to win every ballgame."
Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo gave up just one run over his eight innings, while Los Angeles' Chad Billingsley pitched seven frames of one-run ball. Aaron Miles drove in the lone run for the Dodgers, who have lost two in a row to begin a 10-game road trip following a three-game sweep at home of Houston.
"We didn't have too many shots at [Gallardo] tonight," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "It's been tough for us to push across runs on a consistent basis."
The Dodgers came into this series having won five of their last six overall against the Brewers and eight of 10 at Miller Park. However, Milwaukee has won six straight and 17 of its past 19 as the host to push its MLB-leading home record to 46-15.
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