Zack Greinke grinned as he stepped to the plate in the sixth inning Thursday afternoon Devin Bush Jersey , and then swung at the first pitch for another hit.

The Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander pitched seven innings and was an offensive dynamo , too, helping to beat the Miami Marlins 4-0.

Greinke singled twice, drove in a run, stole a base and scored. No wonder he looked to be enjoying himself.

”It’s more fun when you’re doing good,” Greinke said. ”Today was a lot of good results, so it was a fun day.”

His offensive feats were impressive, but maybe not that surprising. He leads Arizona pitchers this year with four RBIs and four runs, raised his season average to .300, and is now 7 for 7 lifetime in steal attempts.

Greinke became the first pitcher since Bob Gibson in 1969 to have a hit, an RBI and a stolen base in at least two games in a season.

”He’s a baseball player, and I don’t say that about a lot of pitchers,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. ”He probably has a better swing than 70 percent of the guys in the big leagues, and I’m serious about that.”

As for pitching, Greinke (8-5) won for the fifth time in his past six starts. He allowed seven hits – all singles – but walked none and benefited from several good defensive plays. The outing matched his longest this year.

”As the game goes, you kind of get that flat feeling,” Mattingly said. ”He was just a handful. He’s able to do some different things with the ball and change gears on you.”

Three relievers completed a 10-hitter for Arizona’s fourth shutout of the season.

Paul Goldschmidt continued his recent tear with three hits Diontae Johnson Jersey , and Nick Ahmed added two hits. Each scored and drove in a run.

The Diamondbacks (47-34) finished 8-2 on a three-city trip

”I can’t think of a day where we played bad really,” Greinke said. ”The defense was good, pitching was good, hitting was good, baserunning was good. It was just a lot of good things, and we never beat ourselves.”

The Diamondbacks matched their season high by climbing 13 games above .500. They won the season series against Miami 6-1.

The finale started at 9:10 a.m. Phoenix time, but the Diamondbacks were ready to go and led 3-0 by the second inning.

”The biggest thing was being ready to go on the first pitch and not sleepwalking into it,” Goldschmidt said.

Greinke helped get his teammates going. In the second he singled, easily stole second and scored on Goldschmidt’s two-out single. He added a two-out opposite-field RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-0.

Greinke improved to 7-0 in 12 games against the Marlins. At Marlins Park, he’s 6-0 in six starts with a 1.48 ERA.

Trevor Richards (2-5) allowed three runs in four innings. Miami rookie Brian Anderson went 0 for 4, ending his 24-game on-base streak, the longest active string in the National League.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Greinke on matching Gibson’s offensive feats: ”There’s a record every game. You’ve just got to look hard enough for it.”

D-BACKS’ D

With runners at the corners in the second, Goldschmidt charged Bryan Holaday’s grounder to first and started a nifty ending-inning double play. Right fielder Jon Jay made a catch as he slid into the wall in foul territory to rob Anderson. Second baseman Daniel Descalso committed an error in the third but made amends later in the inning by lunging to snare Starlin Castro’s sharp grounder and save a run.

STREAK ENDS

Miami backup catcher Holaday had thrown out a team record nine consecutive runners attempting to steal, but Greinke got a huge jump to end the streak.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Marlins: C J.T. Realmuto (wrist) missed his third consecutive game but expects to play Friday. Miami is 26-29 when he starts and 6-21 when he doesn’t start.

ROSTER

After the game, Marlins RHP Nick Wittgren was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: LHP Patrick Corbin (6-3, 3.24) is scheduled to start Friday when Arizona returns home to begin a weekend series against the Giants.

Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara, Miami’s top pitching prospect Justin Layne Jersey , will be recalled from New Orleans to start Friday against the Mets. Alcantara, acquired in the trade that sent OF Marcell Ozuna to the Cardinals, will make his Marlins debut. He’s 5-3 with a 3.71 ERA in 14 starts for New Orleans this year.

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ATLANTA (AP) — Matt Ryan could find no easy answers after the Atlanta Falcons‘ offense hit a new low in their fourth straight loss.Ryan threw for only 131 yards in Sunday’s 26-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens , his lowest total of his 11-year career in a game he has started and finished.The Falcons (4-8) have been held below 20 points in each of their four straight losses. The lack of production against the Ravens stands out even in that string of offensive ineptitude.Atlanta managed only 131 total yards, its fewest in almost 20 years. One of the team’s two touchdowns came on Vic Beasley Jr.’s 74-yard fumble return.“I think today is the most disappointing because we never really got anything going,” Ryan said. “That makes it tough when you really are not moving it and you’re letting them kind of dictate the game. That’s a tough pill to swallow.”One week after the team’s top healthy running backs, Tevin Coleman and Ito Smith, combined for six yards on 12 carries in a 31-17 loss at the Saints , the ground game again was a major disappointment.Smith led Atlanta with 22 yards on seven carries. Coleman managed on eight yards on six carries.It would be tempting to blame the lack of run production on the absence of Devonta Freeman, but he has been on injured reserve since the second week of the season . The Falcons seemed to have overcome Freeman’s groin injury, as well as season-ending injuries to starting guards Brandon Fusco and Andy Levitre, until their recent collapse.Atlanta was held to 44 total yards, including 3 yards on the ground, in the second half when the Ravens outscored the Falcons 16-6.“We are not opening the holes and the spacing is not on the level that we have come to understand is acceptable,” coach Dan Quinn said. “We have to continue to dig in and find ways because that part of the game has to be … working the way we need to. When that is out of whack, you become one-dimensional.”The Falcons tweaked their offensive line, moving Zane Beadles into the starting unit ahead of Ben Garland at right guard. Quinn said he didn’t know if he’ll stick with that change and acknowledged his options are limited.Atlanta can’t finish with a winning record. The Falcons show little resemblance to the team that made two straight playoff appearances Benny Snell Jr. Jersey , including a Super Bowl berth following the 2016 season.They hadn’t been held to so few total yards since Dec. 12, 1999, when they had 105 in a loss to San Francisco.Now, the Falcons are simply trying to survive. Ryan has been sacked nine times in the last two weeks, including three by the Ravens.“We just aren’t making plays,” left tackle Jake Matthews said. “We are just not putting ourselves in good situations. Obviously, it’s showing. We have a lot of things to get better at.”Matthews said the Falcons options are to “either throw in the towel or go back to work and get better. I know the mentality of this team. I already know what we are going to do. We are going to work at it and get better at it until it’s right.”Quinn was grim after leaving his players following the loss.“Tough locker room, and it is because they care like they do,” said Quinn, in his fourth season. “I told them this is as challenged as we’ve been in a while, certainly since I’ve been here.”As is his custom, team owner Arthur Blank attended Quinn’s postgame news conference. Afterward, he said Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff still have his trust.“It’s difficult for our fans, difficult for our organization,” Blank said. “… We’re in a difficult time right now, but they’ll figure out the answers. … I haven’t lost any faith in coach Quinn or Thomas.”