PHOENIX — Hitless in 23 previous at-bats, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Joc Pederson faced Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke with two outs in the seventh inning and a man on second base. ADVERTISING PHOENIX — Hitless in 23 previous at-bats,
PHOENIX — Hitless in 23 previous at-bats, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Joc Pederson faced Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke with two outs in the seventh inning and a man on second base.
Pederson, who’d struck out in his first two at-bats against Greinke, delivered a game-tying double, then came around to score the go-ahead run on Yasiel Puig’s single in the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory on Wednesday night.
“To have it come up big and help the team win a ballgame is a nice feeling,” Pederson said. “Just trying to look for a good pitch to hit. He made a mistake and I capitalized on it.”
The Dodgers became the sixth team since 1913 to reach 80 wins in their first 113 games.
“You could see the exhale when he got to first base, and that boyish smile,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Pederson. “He’s a big part of what we need to do. For him to get that big hit was a boost to all of us.”
Puig’s hit was the third off Greinke in the seventh, after Greinke had allowed only one hit through six innings. Cody Bellinger homered, doubled and scored twice for the Dodgers.
Greinke (13-5) lost for the first time in 13 starts at home this season and is 10-1 at Chase Field. He allowed three runs on four hits in 6 2/3 innings, struck out eight and walked four.
“I threw a terrible pitch to Joc and he hit it good. Threw a pitch where I wanted to with Puig but he hit it all right and found a good spot,” Greinke said. “The pitch to Joc was the worse one and he did what he was supposed to with it.”
Dodgers starter Alex Wood (14-1) allowed two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and a walk in six innings, and improved to 6-0 with a 1.72 ERA on the road this season.
