Harper downplays Greinke’s dominant stretch

You know who wasn’t terribly impressed by Greinke’s outing Sunday? “For me, I don’t think he was very tough”. Mattingly said OF Carl Crawford (right oblique strain) will join the team in Atlanta on Monday, but won’t necessarily be activated for the first game of the series. His beef with the generous strike zone Greinke was allegedly enjoying seems to have stemmed from his seventh-inning strikeout. “He does what he does”. For Greinke to get his ERA back to 2.00, at his current rate of about seven innings per start, he would need to allow 30 runs over his next 84 innings over 12 starts, which is the equivalent of a 3.21 ERA.

Greinke’s string is the longest in the majors since Orel Hershiser set the major league record of 59 shutout innings in 1988 with the Dodgers.

In Houston, Astros ace Dallas Keuchel struck out a career-high 13 in seven scoreless innings.

Both Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke kept their respective scoreless streaks alive with a pair of unbelievable starts in Washington D.C. against the Nationals over the weekend.

Harper admitted that he was hesitant to pump Greinke up too much because he’ll have to face him again. After the strike-three call, Harper clenched a fist and yelled before returning to the dugout, The Post’s report said.

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Nationals Park, Sunday, July 19, 2015, in Washington. The Mets won’t be easy, their starters average an ERA of 2.75.

Greinke added to his great performance by walking just one batter on 119 pitches. “When you’re getting five to six inches off of the plate, you better win the game”, Harper said, per Chase Hughes of CSNWashington.com. The Nationals finally reached second base in the ninth inning against reliever J.P. Howellwhen Harper singled and reached second on a throwing error.