Greinke reaches another milestone in KC Royals’ series-clinching home win vs. Guardians

Veteran starting pitcher Zack Greinke tossed five scoreless innings Sunday to earn his third win in four starts as the Royals closed out a seesaw series with two victories in three tries against the division-rival Cleveland Guardians.

The Royals bounced back after getting trounced by 12 runs the previous day, beating the Guardians 5-1 in front of an announced 13,282 in the finale of the series at Kauffman Stadium.

Along the way, Greinke hit another in a lengthy series of career milestones: Now playing in his 19th major-league season, he’s just the second active pitcher in the majors to have thrown 50,000 pitches.

“You never know how teams respond, but I’ve watched this team,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Getting walked off two out of three games on the road and guys just come back and play really hard. ... I thought they did a real nice job all the way around today. Zack set the tone for us.”

Royals outfielder Kyle Isbel went 2 for 4 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. Isbel drove in the first run of the day for the Royals and scored their last, too, while Hunter Dozier went 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles.

Infielder Nicky Lopez (1 for 3, walk, RBI, run), designated hitter MJ Melendez (1 for 4, 2 RBIs) and left fielder Andrew Benintendi (1 for 3, walk, RBI, run) all drove in runs for the Royals (32-52). Rookie shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (1 for 4) doubled.

Two-time All-Star infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield came out of the game after the fourth inning due to what the club termed “right toe discomfort.” Merrifield was scheduled to be reevaluated after the game.

Merrifield has the longest active streak of consecutive games played in the majors. He has played in 553 straight, a franchise record, dating back to June 25, 2018.

Greinke, meanwhile, matched a season high with five strikeouts and allowed just three hits and one walk.

“I thought his stuff was very sharp. He was putting everything where he wanted to,” Matheny said. The curveball was keeping them off-balance, but locating with the fastball.”

Greinke (3-5) recorded two third strikes with hitters swinging at the curveball in the first inning. He froze a batter on a called third strike with the curve in the second, and then got another swinging third strike with that pitch in the fourth.

His final strikeout came on a changeup.

“I think it had something to do with throwing a lot of harder pitches (making) the curve be more of a surprise,” Greinke said. “That might have helped it out some, throwing strikes with the fastball. If you throw strikes with the curve, sometimes it makes them have to swing at it. Where as if you throw balls, they can wait back on it a little better.”

With his sixth pitch in the third inning, Greinke became the 17th pitcher since baseball started tracking such data in 1988 to reach the 50,000-pitch plateau. He joined former teammate Justin Verlander (50,341) as the only active pitchers to eclipse that mark.

Greinke described reaching the milestone as “pretty neat” but said it wasn’t a stat he’d been tracking.

The second-oldest pitcher to start a game for the Royals (38 years, 262 days), Greinke reached the 50,000-pitch milestone on a fastball that Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan smacked to center field for a lineout.

“It’s an art,” Isbel said of watching Greinke pitch. “Every time I get to play center field behind him is super fun. He picks apart lineups better than a lot of pitchers. Playing behind him is a blast. He’s always on the mound, ready to pitch and attack. As a defender, you’re always ready to go.”

Isbel, who also made a highlight-reel diving catch in center field, drove in the game’s first run with a two-out RBI single to right field in the second inning. Isbel knocked in Dozier, who doubled to start the frame and advanced to third on a Vinnie Pasquantino grounder to first base.

That stood as the game’s only scoring until the Royals added three runs in the fifth on Benintendi’s RBI grounder through the right side of the infield and a two-run single flared into center by Melendez.

The Royals led 4-0 giong into the sixth, and they tacked on a run there via a Nicky Lopez RBI single to score Isbel from second base. Isbel singled and stole second to set up the scoring opportunity.

The Royals went 4 for 12 with runners in scoring position and had a pair of two-out RBIs in their 10-hit Sunday performance.

The Guardians (41-42) scored their lone run on a wild pitch in the ninth inning with two outs.

This story was originally published July 10, 2022 at 4:11 PM.