‘I wasn’t crazy sharp’: Zack Greinke says of strong outing in Kansas City Royals return
The sun shined down on Zack Greinke’s return to the Kansas City Royals, but it did so only in small bursts.
For the most part, the cold, windy, damp weather characterized the day at Kauffman Stadium. Greinke, who signed as a free agent this spring after 11 seasons away from the franchise that drafted him, made his first Opening Day start for the club since 2010.
He didn’t factor into the decision, but the Royals came out on top in the game that served as the connective tissue between multiple eras of the club’s recent history.
After all, the former Cy Young Award winner Greinke pitched to multi-time All-Star and Gold Glove winning catcher Salvador Perez and they were part of the debut of top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. The three had never been on the field together in a big-league game, but they were all part of 3-1 season-opening victory over the Cleveland Guardians.
“It was a good crowd, a lot of energy,” Greinke said. “The weather was nasty. The weather was a mess. Both teams had to deal with it. It was just tough conditions. I thought we played a great game defensively, and pitched pretty good.”
Neither team mustered a lot of offense. The Guardians countered Greinke with their ace and another former Cy Young winner in Shane Bieber. The duo combined to allow just two total runs.
Greinke allowed one run on five hits and one walk in 5 2/3 innings, while Bieber allowed a run on three hits and no walks in 4 2/3 innings. Greinke struck out one, while Bieber tallied four.
The Guardians broke through with a run in the fourth after a leadoff single and a stolen base put Myles Straw on second base. With one out, Jose Ramirez doubled on the ground to left-center field to bring in Straw for the game’s first run.
Greinke struck out Franmil Reyes and got Bobby Bradly to ground out to first base to keep the Guardians from turning that one run into any sort of momentum.
After Nicky Lopez smashed a game-tying two-out RBI double in the fifth inning, Greinke looked like he might get through six full innings. But he gave up a one out single and then another single with two outs put runners on the corners. Royals manager Mike Matheny called upon left-hander Jake Brentz to get out of the inning with the score still tied.
“I was still good,” Greinke said of his endurance. “The thing, just my opinion, I was pretty solid. But I wasn’t crazy sharp, and we’ve got a good bullpen. It just was probably the right decision whether I felt good or not good. We’ve got an off day (Friday), so everyone can recover. Just try to win the game.”
Greinke didn’t throw a pitch faster than 91.5 mph and his slowest went 69 mph. He used his fastball, changeup, curveball and slider. While he didn’t get a lot of swing and miss — five whiffs on 37 swings — he also allowed just one extra-base hit.
“He’s so fun to just watch. The way he goes about his business,” Lopez said. “I mean that in the most respectful way. He’s a great part of our team. A lot of people are learning just by watching him. Same thing with Alex Gordon when he was here. A lot of people just watched how he goes about his business.
“To be able to watch Greinke go about his business and the way he handles himself on the mound and fields his position. I’ve never seen a pitcher field his position like that. It’s awesome to play behind him.”
Greinke, 38, played the role of tone-setter for the club as well as an example for the young pitching staff of the Royals.
“I think we all know there’s just things Zack can do that nobody else really can,” Matheny said. “It’s so unique to watch the artistry in action. Just how he’s constantly manipulating pitch movement and shape and velocity. Moving it around the entire plate. What a clear idea he has and then being able to execute. It’s really impressive.
“As our guys continue to watch, they are going to see the effectiveness of making a quality pitch in a quality location, and it’s not all about velocity.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 9:53 PM.
