Zack Greinke was helped by the offense with a six run second inning, striking out ten batters on his way to his tenth win of the season. Greinke put together seven innings, giving up four hits and one run, a solo home run from Matt Carpenter in the third inning. Greinke had his control going for him all night, not walking a single batter. The Dodgers starters have walked two or fewer batters in 32 straight games, the longest single season run by an NL club since at least 1914. Paul Maholm and Chris Perez put the finishing touches on a dominant outing from Greinke, combining to hold the Cardinals scoreless through two innings, getting the 9-1 victory.

It was a big six run second inning that deflated the Cardinals early, especially knowing they had to try to get those runs back off of Greinke. One run was scored in the first inning beginning with back to back singles from Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez returned to the lineup after suffering from shoulder soreness, and immediately extended his hit streak to 11. Puig scored on a fielder’s choice and error from Daniel Descalso.

Justin Turner doubled in Matt Kemp to open up the second inning, but left the game with a hamstring strain after rounding first. A.J. Ellis followed with a double to drive in Miguel Rojas, who had replaced Turner. Dee Gordon then crushed a 2-2 pitch for a ground rule double and a 4-0 lead. Adrian Gonzalez drove in one with his RBI single, and Kemp followed with a floating single to the gap in left center field.

Andre Ethier finished the scoring in the inning by finding a hole in the defense for an RBI and a 7-0. The six run second inning is a season high for Los Angeles. Juan Uribe drove in the final two runs of the game with a single in the eighth. It was a 15 hit night for the Dodgers, who also went 7-13 with runners in scoring position.

The Dodgers move to 46-37 with the win and will close out the series tomorrow afternoon with the Cardinals. They are now only a game and a half behind the San Francisco Giants for first place in the NL West.