Once beloved by the Los Angeles Dodgers faithful, Zack Greinke has drawn their ire in his visits to Dodger Stadium since signing a record-setting contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks after the 2015 season.
The Dodgers were aggressive in their efforts to retain the right-hander and second ace to Clayton Kershaw, but Greinke ultimately found an extra year and larger salary from the Diamondbacks too much to pass up. After all, he’d always been frank about the financial factor.
While Greinke was dominant at home for the Dodgers, that hasn’t carried over as a member of the Diamondbacks. The latest example came on Opening Day, when he was chased in the fourth inning after allowing seven runs.
Prior to that, Greinke’s afternoon began with hearty boos from fans during pregame introductions at Dodger Stadium. Though, the 35-year-old largely shook that off, per Bill Shaikin and Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times:
“They’ve got a lot of fans here,” he said. “It is what it is, I guess.”
Similarly, Greinke did not make much of surrendering four home runs:
“They hit a lot of home runs,” he said. “It’s not like I’m the only one they’re hitting home runs on.”
The Dodgers finished with an MLB record eight home runs on Opening Day. It also marked a franchise high for any game.
In his 12 starts against the Dodgers since joining the Diamondbacks, Greinke is 5-6 with a 4.90 ERA and surrendered 16 home runs over 71.2 innings pitched. The bulk of Greinke’s success against his former team came last season, as he finished 3-1 with 3.86 ERA in four starts.
