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Preview #144: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Colorado Rockies

Zack Greinke seeks to extend a startling season of home domination at Chase Field tonight.

Arizona Diamondbacks v Los Angeles Dodgers Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Today's Lineups

COLORADO ROCKIES ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Charlie Blackmon - CF David Peralta - LF
DJ LeMahieu - 2B Chris Iannetta - C
Carlos Gonzalez - RF A.J. Pollock - CF
Nolan Arenado - 3B Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
Gerardo Parra - LF J.D. Martinez - RF
Trevor Story - SS Brandon Drury - 2B
Mark Reynolds - 1B Adam Rosales - 3B
Jonathan Lucroy - C Ketel Marte - SS
Kyle Freeland - LHP Zack Greinke - RHP

Victory tonight will tie Zack Greinke with Randy Johnson for most wins ever in a single season at Chase Field. In 2002, Johnson went 14-3 with a 2.12 ERA (at then Bank One Ballpark); Greinke is currently 13-1, with a 2.31 ERA, even though to this point he has pitched five fewer times in Arizona than the Big Unit did during his campaign. Zack should have at least one, perhaps two more starts here before the end of the regular season. If everyone keeps on regular rest, he’d be on schedule to start the opener of the Miami series here, and the last home game against San Francisco. But whether he goes in the latter, game #159, will likely depend on the post-season situation.

Zack Greinke is currently the first National League pitcher with a .900+ winning percentage at home, and more than ten wins, since... Zack Greinke did it in 2015. He went 10-1 with the Dodgers in Los Angeles that year. And he also did it in 2011 with the Brewers, going 11-0. The only National League pitcher NOT named “Greinke” to have done it since 2012, was another current Diamondback, Jorge De La Rosa, who posted a 10-1 record for the Rockies at Coors Field in 2013. Over his whole career, Greinke has regularly pitched much better at home: he’s 101-41 with a 3.07 ERA there, compared to 70-65 and a 3.65 ERA on the road.

Greinke is one of only three pitchers in baseball history to have posted more than a hundred wins at home and a career W% there greater than .700. The other two are a pair of leftys, literally: Lefty Grove (167-44) and Lefty Gomez (112-45). Of course, both of those were helped by the fact that they threw a lot more complete games in their own park: 148 and 103 respectively, while Greinke has... six. Clayton Kershaw has a good shot at joining that trio, being currently 79-21 - well, it might not be such a good shot, since it appears the Los Angeles Dodgers will never win again. We can but hope so, anyway...