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Last night’s dramatic - and, inevitably, come from behind - victory in the opening game, means the Diamondbacks now have two chances to win a series against the Dodgers. As mentioned in yesterday’s preview, nobody has done that since June 4-6, when the Nationals took two of three. Since then, Los Angeles has gone seventeen series without being defeated, posting a record of 14-0-3 in that time, splitting a four-game set against Atlanta, and both legs of the Gridlock Series against their neighbors in Anaheim. I’m not sure what the all-time record is, but you’ve got to think the Dodgers are close.
However, if that’s going to end tonight, the Diamondbacks will likely need to do a better job of handling Alex Wood. He blanked them for seven innings of three-hit ball, striking out ten, when they saw him in Los Angeles on July 5. However, he was much less effective when he faced Arizona at Chase Field earlier in the month, not getting through five innings and allowing four earned runs on seven hits and a walk. We’ll also need Zack Greinke to end an ugly three-game losing streak against his former team. That has seen him charged with 17 earned runs in only 15.2 innings of work, the Dodgers rapping out 23 hits and seven walks.
Zack’s last start was the dramatic game in Wrigley, where the D-backs blew a five-run lead and Paul Goldschmidt homered three times, prevailing 10-8. Greinke got through six innings on only 87 pitches, but was tagged for six runs. Fortunately, he will not be facing Wilson Contreras tonight. In fact, looks like nobody will be facing him: he seems to have injured his hamstring against the Giants today, which won’t help the Cubs. They lost again, dropping the series in San Francisco, and their division lead is down to 1 game over the Brewers, who play tonight. Much scoreboard watching will be done, but Arizona needs to win to stay in front of Colorado, who already got their W.
Fun times!