Greinke not quite ready to return to Kansas City Royals rotation, to start for Omaha again
Kansas City Royals veteran pitcher Zack Greinke will make at least one more start in his minor-league rehab assignment before rejoining the major-league club.
Prior to Friday’s game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum, Royals manager Mike Matheny said that Greinke would start on Saturday for Triple-A Omaha.
Greinke, 39, has been on the injured list since May 30 with a right flexor strain.
He made a rehab start with Omaha last Sunday. He dominated in that outing. He pitched five scoreless innings and allowed one hit against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Greinke struck out four, didn’t walk a batter and made it through five innings on 49 pitches (33 strikes). He retired 13 batters in a row to start the game before he gave up a single in the fifth inning.
The fact he only threw 49 pitches seemed to be the primary reason he’ll make another start in the minors.
“He’d like to be here, but he also understands he threw 49 pitches last time out,” Matheny said. “So let’s just go ahead and make sure you get up to that point to where when he gets back here he’s able to throw in that 90 range and give us a deeper start. I think he gets it. The short starts have been wearing on our bullpen.”
The Royals current rotation includes Friday night’s starter Daniel Lynch followed by Brad Keller (Saturday) and Brady Singer (Sunday) for the three-game weekend series with the Athletics. If they remain on turn, they’d have Kris Bubic in line to start Monday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels and Jonathan Heasley set for Tuesday.
It’s not clear how the Royals will adjust their rotation to accommodate Greinke’s return when he does finish his rehab assignment.
