Greinke, Bumgarner, and Sale Strike Out 37, Hit 2 Home Runs

Greinke, Bumgarner, and Sale is not a law firm, rather, they are three of the best starting pitchers in baseball. Zack Greinke of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants are also two of the better hitting pitchers in baseball as well. We’ll give Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox a pass on hitting as he’s in the American League and has only nine at bats (with one hit).

On August 16th, all three were at their best. Greinke hit his 2nd home run of the season and 6th of his career (his first six seasons were spent in the A.L.), struck out eight Cincinnati Reds in seven innings and picked up his 13th win of the season against just two losses, as the Dodgers edged the Reds 2-1. He also lowered his ERA to 1.58, best in the majors.

Not to be outdone, Madison Bumgarner struck out 14 Washington Nationals in a complete game victory and improved his record to 14-6 with a 2.98 ERA. Bumgarner hit his fourth home run of the season and 10th of his career in the 5-0 victory to keep the Giants 2 ½ games behind the first place Dodgers in the N.L. West.

Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox cooled off their red hot cross town rival Chicago Cubs by shutting down the Cubs bats with a 15 strikeout performance in a 3-1 victory that ended the Cubs’ nine game winning streak. Sale improved to 11-7 on the season and leads the majors with 208 strikeouts.