July 27th, 2015 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke’s consecutive scoreless innings streak now sits at 1.1 innings – and he couldn’t be happier.
“If anything, I feel negative about it,” Greinke told reporters after his streak ended on Sunday afternoon at 45 2/3 innings. “Now I don’t have to answer questions all the time.”
Greinke got off to a great start on Sunday afternoon by retiring the first six batters he faced.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
The streak ended in a rather unusual way. After retiring the first six batters he faced in order, Greinke led off the bottom of the third by hitting Mets center fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis with an 0-1 fastball. This was followed by a loop single to center by catcher Kevin Plawecki that Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson overran allowing Nieuwenhuis to take third on the error. With runners at the corners and no outs, Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom hit a chopper to Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. But rather than conceding the run and trying for the double play, Gonzalez came home with the throw where Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal just missed Nieuwenhuis with the tag, and just like that Greinke’s shot at baseball immortality was over.
“There’s no way he’s getting on the plate if the [Posey] rule is not there,” Grandal said after the game.
After seeing this replay, Dodgers video review coordinator Johnny Pratt informed Don Mattingly not to challenge the call. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
But did AGon come home with the throw just to try to keep Greinke’s streak intact instead of going for the more conventional 3-6-1 double play?
“I don’t want anyone doing something silly,” Greinke said. “Just have to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. I think there was a good chance to get him at home. It needed to be a really good throw and the throw was just a little bit off, I thought.”
But Dodger fans won’t have to wait long for the next run at Orel Hershiser’s 59 consecutive scoreless innings record. After his near perfect game on Thursday night, Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw extended his own consecutive scoreless innings streak to 29 innings. Does Greinke think his teammate will make it?
“Maybe it will get broken,” said Greinke. “I know five years ago or so I thought that one and the DiMaggio [56-game hitting] streak were the two toughest. Looks like people are getting closer to the Hershiser one now. Maybe eventually it might happen.”
The Dodgers would eventually lose the series finale to the Mets when former Dodger and new Mets third baseman Juan Uribe lined a Kenley Jansen 95-MPH cutter into the left-center field gap for the 10th-inning walk-off 3-2 Mets win. The Dodgers ended up splitting the four-game series and the 10-game road trip, and (finally) head home for the first time since the All-Star break with a fragile one-game lead over the hated Giants in the NL West.
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The only thing that bothered me about the run that broke the streak and the winning run was that both deGrom and Uribe hit 0-2 pitches. However, I expect both pitches were just mistakes.
I’m sure every Dodger fan’s mind was on the streak when Gonzalez fielded the grounder, so it was no surprise when he came home with the ball. As it turned out the Mets only scored that run in the inning.
I was surprise that Mattingly took out Puig on that last double switch after Ethier made the last out the inning before. I waa just wondering if Granderson would’ve attempted to go to second if Puig was out there.
I was at the game; no way would Grandson have run on Puig. Ethier was surprised and didn’t get the throw away quickly. Also, why was VanSlyke bunting on a 3-1 count with no out and the runner already in scoring position. We had three opportunities to get the run in and gave one of them away. Poor baseball decision IMO.
Couldn’t agree more.
I, too, was at the game and Ethier gave a “Who, me?” look when told to move over to right field. He clearly thought he was coming out of the game.
As soon as Granderson was called safe at second base, I said to my friend “Puig makes that play.”
But in my opinion the game was lost on Pederson’s strikeout with one out in the 10th inning and runners on second and third. Even a simple fly out scores a run, but Joc continues to refuse to shorten up his swing. I expect that this won’t be the last game the Dodgers lose because of this.