(SportsNetwork.com) - All eyes will be on Los Angeles right-hander Zack Greinke on Saturday, as he tries to help the Dodgers avoid falling into an 0-2 hole in the National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Often overshadowed by Clayton Kershaw's heroics, Greinke put together a pretty impressive season of his own, going 17-8 with a 2.71 ERA and 207 strikeouts. He was also 5-0 with a 2.34 ERA in his last eight outings.

"Zack obviously gives us that one-two punch," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "We consider ourselves having two No. 1's when you have Zack. So he's really important."

Greinke is also quite familiar with the Cardinals, especially in the postseason, as four of his six playoff starts have come against them. Greinke has beaten the Cards twice in the playoffs and is 2-2 with a 4.30 ERA overall in the postseason.

St. Louis, though, has also knocked his teams out of the postseason both times he's been there.

"It's the playoffs, so there's plenty of motivation," Greinke said. "But the Cardinals have knocked me out both of the times in the playoffs, so it's not any more motivation, but it's kind of tough losing to the same team twice."

Greinke will need to be better than Kershaw was on Friday if the Dodgers want to even this best-of-five set at a game apiece.

The presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner's postseason struggles continued on Friday, as Matt Carpenter's four RBI included a three-run double in an eight- run seventh inning and the Cardinals held on to beat the Dodgers, 10-9, in Game 1.

"We have been very consistent with this," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "It's just one game, no matter what. Not necessarily putting more weight on any particular game, except the one that's right in front of us. That's all we can control."

Kershaw retired 16 batters in a row between Randal Grichuk's one-out homer in the first inning and Carpenter's two-out blast in the sixth, and his team had a 6-1 lead after scoring six runs off St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright in 4 1/3 innings.

But the first four Cardinals batters hit singles in the seventh, starting a deluge that didn't end until Kershaw was on the bench, presumably wondering how the NL Central champions got the best of him again.

Last year, Kershaw gave up seven runs in four innings in the decisive Game 6 of the NL Championship Series, which the Cardinals won 9-0 to reach the World Series for the third time in eight years.

Kershaw's pitching line was stunning: eight runs and eight hits, but also 10 strikeouts and no walks in 6 2/3 innings.

"I feel terrible. It's an awful feeling to let your teammates down," said Kershaw, who became the first pitcher in major-league history to give up seven runs or more in back-to-back postseason starts, "They were playing great, got a bunch of runs for me and I couldn't hold it."

The Dodgers brought the go-ahead run to the plate twice in the ninth inning against Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal but scored just once and stranded the tying run at third base when Yasiel Puig struck out.

"Like I said, I think a loss is a loss and a win is a win," Mattingly said. "This time of year, any time you lose one, it feels like it's an emotional battle. I'm really proud of our guys. We got four down there, it would have been easy to go away. Our guys kept battling. In a sense, you know, we let everyone know we're not going away. We're going to keep playing.

"We didn't get this far by losing a game in there and saying, 'Oh, we're going to take our ball and go home.' We're going to show up tomorrow and be ready to play."

Like Greinke, St. Louis right-hander Lance Lynn is often overlooked, but put together a solid season of his own. Lynn went 15-10 with a career-low 2.74 ERA and career-high 203 2/3 innings,

He's one of only three pitchers in Cardinals history (Dizzy Dean from 1932-36, Harry Brecheen from 1944-48) to win at least 15 games in three consecutive seasons beginning as a first- or second-year player.

Lynn also had six scoreless starts and turned in a career-best 24 quality starts.

"He's able to harness that this year, and it's just part of that maturing process," St. Louis skipper Mike Matheny said. "He's been rewarded, also, that he sees when he's able to put that kind of game plan together and stick with it regardless of the things outside of his control how they happen, he's going to give himself a better chance of success. It's worked out really well for him."

Emotions may still be running high in Game 2 after a benches clearing incident in Game 1. Tempers flared in the third inning when Wainwright hit Puig in the arm. The next batter, Adrian Gonzalez, jawed with catcher Yadier Molina, causing the benches and bullpens to clear, though no punches were thrown.

The bad blood dates to Game 1 of the NLCS last year when Dodgers star Hanley Ramirez was hit in the side, and was bolstered by several bean-ball incidents this season.

Los Angeles took four of the seven regular season matchups between these clubs this season.

St. Louis and Los Angeles have met four times in the playoffs (1985, 2004, 2009, 2013) and the Dodgers won only one series, sweeping the Cards in three games in the 2009 Division Series.