Justin Upton obliterated a slider to spoil a great start by Zack Greinke, hitting a solo home run in the eighth inning to give the Padres a 2-1 victory over the Dodgers on Saturday night at Petco Park in San Diego, snapping the Dodgers' four-game winning streak.
Greinke, who struck out seven on the night, fell behind Upton 3-1 with two outs in the eighth, but got him to swing and miss at a slider just off the plate for strike two.
"Zack might feel attacking Matt Kemp in the on-deck circle, than giving in here to Justin Upton," Orel Hershiser said on the SportsNet LA broadcast before that 3-1 pitch. "I'll be very surprised if this pitch is anywhere near the middle of the plate."
Greinke tried the same pitch again with the count full, only it caught too much of the plate, and Upton made him pay, smashing a ball over the center field fence.
Upton in his career is 11-for-33 (.333) against Greinke, with three home runs and four walks.
The only other run allowed by Greinke came in the first inning, thanks to a one-out double by Will Venable, who scored one out later when Greinke threw wild to first base on a dribbler by Matt Kemp that might have otherwise ended the inning.
Greinke lasted eight innings on the night, matching Mike Bolsinger (May 23) and Clayton Kershaw (June 6) for the longest outing by a Dodgers pitcher this season, needing only 100 pitches to do so. But he suffered his second loss of the season.
In Greinke's last seven starts, he is winless despite a 2.28 ERA and averaging 6.76 innings per start.
Saturday was a complete game for Greinke, technically the second by the Dodgers this season, along with Brett Anderson's rain-shortened five-inning effort in Colorado on May 8.
Yasmani Grandal hit a no-doubter into the right field seats in the third inning to tie the game at 1-1, his first home run in his old home park since joining the Dodgers. Grandal is four games this season at Petco Park is 5-for-13 (.385) with three extra-base hits.
But after that, Ian Kennedy settled down, allowing only two singles and a walk the rest of the way, finishing with seven innings allowing one run. He retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced.
Yasiel Puig led off the ninth inning with a single against Padres closer Craig Kimbrel, putting the tying run on base, but was quickly erased on a double play grounder back to the box by Adrian Gonzalez.
Up next
Bolsinger takes the hill for the Dodgers in the series finale on Sunday afternoon, while the Padres turn to James Shields.
Saturday particulars
Home runs: Yasmani Grandal (7), Justin Upton (13)
WP - Brandon Maurer (4-0): 1 IP, 1 strikeout
LP - Zack Greinke (5-2): 8 IP, 8 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
Sv - Craig Kimbrel (16): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout