Greinke, Matheny Address Rough Game vs. Diamondbacks
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Coming off a sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins, the Kansas City Royals were in desperate need of a statement game on Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. They appeared to be well on their way to accomplishing that feat after four runs were scored in the top of the first inning, but then things quickly began to unravel.
With Zack Greinke — who has been one of the club's two best starters this season — on the mound, the Royals were expected to allow very few runs. After one frame, however, Arizona had closed the gap to a 4-3 score via home runs by Pavin Smith and Christian Walker. Two more runs were added in each of the third and fourth innings, bringing Greinke's total to a shocking seven-run charge for the night. After the game, the 38-year-old touched on what went wrong in his start.
May 23, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke (23) looks on after being pulled in the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
"The ball seemed like it was flying, a lot of home runs being hit," Greinke said. "Had some close pitches called balls and kind of got scared to throw strikes a little bit, I think is what happened. I mean, really, only made one mistake in the zone — that was the home run [to Smith] — and then walked too many guys."
Greinke challenged Diamondbacks hitters outside, which is evidenced by all of his season-high five strikeouts being by way of pitches way off the plate. Command was also an issue for him, though, which is shown by his four walks being comprised of three fastball misses and a curveball being left way too high in the zone. It was a rough outing overall for the veteran, but manager Mike Matheny believes it was simply one bad night in an otherwise exemplary body of work in 2022.
"He's been really good," Matheny said. "That was just one where he didn't have as good of a feel and wasn't as sharp. It was a fight. We couldn't have had a better top [of the] first. Just everything we'd asked for, and then some. That's a spot where we're really excited about Zack being on the mound because we know he's going to know how to get a shutdown inning and get us back in the batter's box. Just one of those days that it was tough to find."
It's been an interesting season for Greinke as, prior to Monday's game, he wasn't recording many walks nor striking out lots of hitters. His K/9 is currently the lowest of his career, and his BB/9 was a career-low figure before his four-walk night. Through nine starts, Greinke is averaging over five innings per outing and boasts a 4.53 ERA. Even a few starts ago, many expected his numbers to worsen. They have, and it's up to Greinke to make sure this erratic start was an isolated incident.
May 13, 2022; Denver, Colorado, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke (23) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
