Greinke Looks For NL Leading Ninth Win On Sunday Night Baseball

The Dodger bats came to life Saturday night in their 12-2 romping over the Bucs. The Dodgers had lost the first two games of this four game series struggling to score.  It seemed like the Dodgers took out all of their frustrations on poor Brandon Cumpton. Hanley Ramirez had a career game going 4 for 4 with two home runs, two run scoring singles and four runs driven in.

Tonight they’ll look to gain a series split in the series finale. In this game they’ll face old friend and sideways hat wearer Edinson Volquez. Oh yes, he’s back. The former Dodger  has had an ok start to the season with the Bucs. Despite having a long and established history of control problems, Volquez has been serviceable.

Dodges Lineup vs. Pirates-6-1-14

Gordon 2B

Ethier CF

Puig RF

Hanley SS

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp LF

Turner 3B

Butera C

Greinke P

Edinson Volquez-2-4 vs. Zack Greinke-8-1

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Volquez is 2-4 with a 4.30 ERA in ten starts this season. He has 38 strikeouts and 20 walks in 60.2 innings pitched. His walk rate has improved but as a result his strikeouts have gone down.  He’s also given up ten home runs this year. In his last start against the Mets on May 27, he threw five frames, and allowed two earned runs on four hits and struckout six. But the walks killed him again, as he walked five in that outing.

The Dodgers acquired him off of waivers from the Padres last August for their stretch run. He pitched in just six games for the Dodgers in 2013, and posted a 4.18 ERA. In his career against the Dodgers, Volquez is 2-3 with a 3.86 ERA in seven starts. At Dodger Stadium he has no record and a 5.14 ERA in five games pitched. A few of those starts were when he was a Dodger.

Against the Dodgers he has not done well. The boys in blue are batting .290 (27 for 93) with four home runs. Kemp is hitting .417 with a home run, and Adrian Gonzalez is batting .333 with two home runs. Remember Volquez’s success is directly correlated to how sideways his hat is. The more sideways is hat is, the stronger his pitching becomes.

The Dodgers will counter with Zack Greinke. The feathered right hander is looking for his NL leading ninth win. Greinke is 8-1 with a 2.18 ERA. He has 76 whiffs against only 14 walks. For most of the season he has pitched like a cy young winner.

Volquez’s hat is very sideways- Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Greinke is 5-2 against the Pirates but with an ERA of 5.29 in eight starts.

The Bucs are batting .211 (23 for 109) against Greinke. The one guy to watch out for is Clint Barmes. For some reason he’s batting . 538 (7 for 13) vs. Greinke with two doubles. The Pirates also have two home runs each from Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez.

Hanley Ramirez on fire

Last night Hanley collected four hits and smashed two home runs. He’s had hits in his last six at-bats. That was his fourth multi-home run game with the Dodgers.

It’s June 1st and the Dodgers are hoping that their May showers turn into June flowers. You can catch the game tonight on ESPN at 5:07 PM.

Tune in over here for a complete recap after the game. Go Blue!