Dodgers’ Zack Greinke and Giants’ Madison Bumgarner are both batting eighth tonight.

Pitchers Zack Greinke and Madison Bumgarner are both batting eighth for the Dodgers and Giants tonight at Dodger Stadium. It’s the first time either team has batted its starting pitcher anywhere other than ninth in the order this season.

Apparently, the coincidence is quite rare.

Greinke and Bumgarner are arguably the two best hitting pitchers in the game today.

Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke has two home runs this season, second among National League pitchers to Madison Bumgarner. (Associated Press photo)

Greinke, the reigning NL Silver Slugger award winner, has a .218 batting average and two home runs this season — both of which pace the Dodgers’ pitchers who have at least 15 plate appearances this season. His batting average is also a tad batter than that of center fielder Joc Pederson (.212), who is batting ninth.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he hadn’t considered batting Greinke eighth before today.

“The one bad thing we’ve had with the Clayton (Kershaw)-Bumgarner matchup was that Clayton has to hit off a lefty. Now we’ve got Zack hitting off a lefty, a little better matchup for our pitcher. Seriously. Bumgarner has to hit off the righty instead of getting the lefty. Looking at our guys, the way they were stacked, Zack seemed to fit there, it seemed like it’d be the right guy off Bumgarner.”

Bumgarner has five home runs, a .262 batting average, and nine RBIs in 64 plate appearances this season out of the number-nine slot in the lineup. The Giants number-nine hitter today, shortstop Ehire Adrianza, has a .169 batting average and no home runs in 95 plate appearances this season.

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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.