LOS ANGELES -- On the mound, at the plate and even on the bases, Zack Greinke was on his game on Sunday, leading the Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the Padres to complete a three-game series sweep.
The Dodgers have won four straight games and are 17-4 in their last 21 games against the National League West.
Greinke allowed just one run on two hits in his seven innings for his 14th win of the season. Greinke has won each of his last six starts, and has allowed 13 total runs over his last 11 games. During that span Greinke is 8-1 with a 1.47 ERA with 67 strikeouts and 17 walks in 77⅔ innings.
Greinke has four starts in 2013 with at least seven innings and just two hits allowed, and all four have come against the National League West. Against his own division this season Greinke is 5-0 with a 2.53 ERA in eight starts against the NL West this season, and the Dodgers have won seven of those eight games.
Tyson Ross was able to match Greinke, at least for a while. Ross struck out a career-high 10 while allowing just one run on five hits and a walk, but thanks to an escalating pitch count he was removed after 105 pitches and just five innings.
Relief pitcher Dale Thayer pitched the sixth inning for San Diego, and Puig was the second batter he faced. Thayer's first pitch to Yasiel Puig was deposited into the left field pavilion for a tie-breaking home run and a 2-1 lead for the Dodgers.
Greinke wasn't just good on the mound on Sunday. He also went 1-for-2 at the plate, and that included narrowly missing a double to left center field in the third inning on a nice catch by Will Venable. After his single in the fifth inning Greinke stole second base easily and likely terrified thousands with his headfirst slide into second.
That was Greinke's second steal of the season, making him the first Dodgers pitcher since Orel Hershiser in 1987 to steal two bases in a season. The last one to do so before Hershiser was Erv Palica, way back in 1950 in Brooklyn. The last Dodgers pitcher to steal more than two bases in a season was Clarence Mitchell, who earned his wings with three thefts in 1921.
Reymond Fuentes, acquired by the Padres in their 2010 trade of Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox, started in center field. Fuentes, in his fifth major league game on Sunday, led off the eighth with his first major league hit, a single off Ronald Belisario. After a wild pitch advanced Fuentes to second base and a ground ball moved Fuentes to third base, Paco Rodriguez was brought in to restore order.
With one out and a 2-1 lead to protect, Rodriguez struck out Will Venable, who hit .367/.395/.697 with eight home runs and 17 extra-base hits in August. After a visit to the mound by pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, Rodriguez was left in to face Chris Denorfia, who entering Sunday was hitting .327/.390/.538 against the Dodgers this season. But Rodriguez got Denorfia to ground back to the pitcher, briefly deflecting off Rodriguez's leg, to keep the tying run stranded at third base and preserve the one-run advantage.
Rodriguez hasn't allowed a run since Aug. 1, and since then has pitched 13 scoreless appearances, with 15 strikeouts and just six runners allowed to reach base in 11 innings.
Kenley Jansen retired the Padres in order in the ninth for his 24th save, one shy of his career high. He has struck out 10 of his last 13 batters faced, over his last three outings. Jansen now has 100 strikeouts on the season, and just 12 walks. He is the first Dodgers reliever to strikeout 100 in a season since Jonthan Broxton, who fanned 114 in 2009.
Jansen has converted 17 consecutive save opportunities.
Sunday particulars
Home run: Yasiel Puig (14)
WP - Zack Greinke (14-3): 7 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
LP - Dale Thayer (2-5): 1⅔ IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
Sv - Kenley Jansen (24): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts