Zack Greinke gives up five homers in return to Dodger Stadium

Zack Greinke’s return to Los Angeles wasn’t going to be a joyous occasion no matter what. After leaving the Los Angeles Dodgers for the Arizona Diamondbacks during the offseason, Greinke wasn’t likely to be received well by the fans.

Things wound up even worse than he could have imagined. Greinke was not only booed by Dodgers fans, but wound up tossing one of his worst starts of the year. The 32-year-old righty gave up an astounding five home runs against his former team, leaving the game after just 4 2/3 innings. He was charged with eight earned runs during the 10-2 loss.

It was the first time ever in Greinke’s career that he allowed five home runs during a start.

	Nick Piecoro @nickpiecoro
First time in Zack Greinke's career he has allowed five home runs. 6:55 PM - 5 Sep 2016

Things appeared promising at first. Greinke cruised through the first three innings, giving up just one hit. During the third, Greinke struck out the side.

In the fourth inning, Greinke started to show some cracks. Corey Seager doubled to open the frame, and was eventually driven in on an Adrian Gonzalez two-run shot. Still, Greinke escaped the inning giving up just two runs, with a little run support, a win or no-decision was within reach.

That all changed in the fifth inning. After getting a one-pitch groundout against Howie Kendrick, Greinke fell apart. Joc Pederson clobbered a solo homer, making it a 3-0 game. Kenta Maeda and Chase Utley then added consecutive singles.

With two men on base, Seager struck again, this time smashing a three-run homer. Justin Turner followed that up with a solo shot of his own, going back-to-back. Greinke was able to retire Adrian Gonzalez with a groundout, but then surrendered another solo home run to Yasmani Grandal. At that point, he was removed from the contest.

Zack Greinke gave up a career-high five home runs in his return to Los Angeles. (Getty Images/Harry How)

Amazingly, Monday’s start was not Greinke’s worst outing of the year. That came Aug. 14, when Greinke allowed nine earned runs over just 1 2/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox.

Following Monday’s disaster start, the 32-year-old Greinke has a 4.41 ERA in his first year with Arizona. He’s owed $172 million over the next five seasons.