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Zack Greinke pitched scoreless ball into the seventh inning and the Dodgers continued to roll on Saturday afternoon with a 5-0 victory over Roberto Hernandez, the former Fausto Carmona, and the Rays at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers continued their momentum from Friday night, and after falling behind 6-0 in the series opener Los Angeles has outscored the Rays 12-0.
The win was the fourth straight for the Dodgers, who are an absurd 19-3 since the All-Star break, including winning streaks of six, five, four and four games.
This follows a 17-5 streak directly before the All-Star break, which included winning streaks of six, five and four games.
Add those two streaks and the Dodgers are 36-8 in their last 44 games, matching the 1953 Brooklyn team for the best mark in franchise history in the modern era (since 1900). The only other MLB team in the last 12 seasons to have a 36-8 stretch was the 2005 Athletics.
Adrian Gonzalez started the scoring with a home run in the first inning for a quick 2-0 lead. After Greinke walked, his fifth walk of the season in just 49 plate appearances, and Carl Crawford doubled in the third inning, Nick Punto singled both home for a 4-0 lead that Greinke made look insurmountable.
Greinke struck out seven and walked just one before he was lifted with one out in the seventh inning. Though he battled at times, especially early, and had a high pitch count, Greinke didn't allow a run on the day. In his last seven starts Greinke has allowed a total of nine runs, with a 1.66 ERA, 41 strikeouts and just nine walks in 48⅔ innings during that span.
Skip Schumaker was 4-for-4 on Saturday for the Dodgers and is 9-for-14 (.643) in his last three contests, all multi-hit games. Since July 1 Schumaker is hitting .369/.406/.538.
The Dodgers tacked on a run in the fourth inning, on a play that ended with Juan Uribe getting caught with the hidden ball trick off third base. But the Dodgers returned the favor in the seventh inning, as Gonzalez caught the Rays napping for an uncontested swipe of second base, his first stolen base of the season.
Gonzalez before joining the Dodgers had two career steals, in three attempts, in 1,140 career games. Since joining Los Angeles, Gonzalez has three stolen bases without getting caught in 149 games.
Chris Withrow pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game, the second straight day the Dodgers didn't have to use Kenley Jansen or Paco Rodriguez. Withrow has allowed one run in his last 12⅓ innings, with 13 strikeouts and just three walks during that span.
The beat goes on.
Saturday particulars
Home runs: Adrian Gonzalez (16)
WP - Zack Greinke (10-3): 6⅓ IP, 6 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
LP - Roberto Hernandez (6-12): 4 IP, 8 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts