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Diamondbacks need Zack Greinke's best on the mound more than ever

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke is nearly two full months into his first season with his new team and still trying to live up to the six-year, $206.5 million deal he signed in the offseason.

Greinke got off to a disastrous start to the season in April but so far in May has looked much more like the pitcher who finished second in the National League Cy Young voting a year ago and has routinely been among the best pitchers in baseball since 2009. He’s still looking for his first outing of the year without giving up a run after doing so 11 times in 2015. So there is plenty of room for improvement.

(Yahoo Sports)
(Yahoo Sports)

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The Diamondbacks were counting on Greinke to anchor the pitching staff this season and they need that even more than before going into Saturday’s game against San Diego in Yahoo’s Free Game of  the Day (10:10 p.m. ET). You can stream Greinke’s latest encounter with the Padres at Yahoo's Sports Home, MLB index and video home.

Arizona has lost four straight and 11 of its past 15 and needs Greinke to put a stop to that streak and help the club hit the reset button. The Diamondbacks have fallen to 21-29 nine games behind the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants in a season in which the franchise hoped to contend with the Giants and Dodgers for the division title, in part, because of the addition of Greinke.

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Arizona also just put fellow starters Shelby Miller and Rubby De La Rosa on the disabled list further exacerbating the need for Greinke to be a stopper with the losing streak. The Padres might be the perfect opponent for Greinke to get the job done. He’s 6-1 lifetime against San Diego with a 1.64 ERA.

If the Diamondbacks are going to get back in the race in the NL West, they're going to need to have some better luck with injuries than they have had to this point, but much more is required of their $34 million-a-year ace, too.

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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo