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Padres 2, Dodgers 1: Upton funks up Greinke

Ian Kennedy put the Padres in position to win, and Justin Upton made it happen.

Denis Poroy/Getty Images

After a tough loss last night, the Padres bounced back to beat Zack Greinke. They were led by a dominant Ian Kennedy, who gave up just one run in seven innings of work. But tonight's hero was Justin Upton, who took Greinke yard in the eighth inning to win the game.

Will Venable got the Padres off to a solid start by doubling off Greinke with one out in the first. Greinke got Upton to ground out, but ran into trouble with Matt Kemp. Kemp hit a soft roller right in front of the plate, and the Dodgers' starter airmailed the throw to first, sending Venable home and Kemp to second. That lead lasted until the third inning, when Yasmani Grandal took Kennedy's 3-1 fastball deep to right field. The next few innings were a pure pitchers' duel. There were a handful of baserunners, but nobody budged.

Kennedy handed the ball over to the bullpen in the eighth, and Brandon Maurer retired the side in order. Don Mattingly stuck with his starter for the bottom half of the inning, and at first it looked like the decision was going to work out for him. Wil Myers and Will Venable both grounded out, bringing Upton to the plate. He took his time finding the right pitch, working a full count out of Greinke before he took a slider over the left center field fence.

That brought in closer Craig Kimbrel. Yasiel Puig led off with a single up the middle, but he was erased quickly. Adrian Gonzalez hit a comebacker to Kimbrel, who promptly tossed it back to Alexi Amarista at second to start the double play. He'd follow that up by striking out Howie Kendrick.

James Shields will try to give the Padres a series win and improve his record to 8-0 in tomorrow's rubber match. First pitch is at 1:10 PM.

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