Diamondbacks at Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers may have won the National League West in each of the last five seasons, but there is no question the Arizona Diamondbacks have enjoyed the upper hand in their divisional rivalry lately. The Diamondbacks seek a 10th straight regular-season victory against the Dodgers on Friday when they conclude the final leg of a nine-game road trip with the first of three games in Los Angeles.
Even though the Dodgers won the NL West going away last year, Arizona was able to make things a bit interesting with a 13-game winning streak from Aug. 24-Sept. 6 - including a pair of three-game sweeps of Los Angeles. The Diamondbacks continued to their recent regular-season mastery of the Dodgers early last week, winning in 15 innings in the opener before yielding a total of one run and five hits over the final two contests for a third straight sweep of the defending division champions. Los Angeles got the last laugh against Arizona last year by sweeping the Diamondbacks in three games during the NL Division Series, but the 2017 World Series runner-up has yet to win more than two games in a row this season. The Dodgers are licking their wounds after their pitching staff - which entered Wednesday with the NL's lowest ERA - was pounded for 16 runs and 21 hits against Oakland.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, FS Arizona, SportsNet LA (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Diamondbacks RH Zack Greinke (0-1, 5.06 ERA) vs. Dodgers RH Kenta Maeda (1-0, 0.00)
Greinke struggled in the sub-40 degree conditions in St. Louis on Saturday, surrendering five runs on nine hits while striking out five in as many frames. The former Cy Young Award winner, who has yet to make it through six innings or throw more than 86 pitches, is still sporting a 14:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 10 2/3 frames. Greinke went 1-2 with a 3.65 ERA in four starts against his former team last season and is 1-2 with a 7.56 ERA in three turns at Dodger Stadium since joining Arizona in 2016.
After getting skipped in the rotation due to a rainout and pitching one inning of relief at San Francisco on Saturday, Maeda will make his first start since March 31. The 30-year-old allowed five hits and a walk and faced at least one baserunner in each of his first four frames in his season debut, but he kept the Giants off the scoreboard by striking out 10 over five innings. Ketel Marte is 5-for-6 against Maeda, who finished 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA in five starts against the Diamondbacks last season.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Diamondbacks are 17-8 over their last 25 road contests.
2. The Dodgers are tied for first in the majors with three shutouts and have allowed a total of one run in their four wins.
3. Arizona 1B Paul Goldschmidt, who has homered in consecutive games, is a career .306 hitter with 28 home runs and 92 RBIs in 114 games versus Los Angeles.