Greinke not ready?
» Veteran tires quickly in intrasquad game.
Zack Greinke is pitching well, but the veteran Astros righthander will require more arm buildup during the next seven days.
Greinke threw three terrific innings in Thursday’s intrasquad game at Minute Maid Park. He tired noticeably in the fourth.
“Most stuff was good until the last inning,” Greinke said. “Then everything was bad.”
With one out, Michael Brantley laced a double into the right-field corner. Carlos Correa followed with a hard-hit single that banged off of the out-oftown scoreboard in left field. The team ended the inning after Correa’s hit. Greinke had thrown only 54 pitches.
Greinke’s throwing schedule was altered when the pitching staff missed a workout Sunday. Pitching coach Brent Strom said Greinke was forced to throw a 67-pitch bullpen session Monday to compensate. Greinke hopes to build to around 75 pitches before his first regular-season start.
Greinke’s outing Thursday was his first in an intrasquad setting. He said both his fastball and slider were “the best they’ve been.” His curveball and changeup were “usable,” Greinke said.
“I’ll take that for now,” Greinke said. “It’s more just arm strength or building up pitch count and stuff.
“I’m probably about as ready as most people. Should be pretty good. Not in midseason form but pretty good.”
Scrimmage includes extra-inning practice
Though the Astros were scheduled for only a five-inning intrasquad game Thursday, they played a sixth as an extra inning. Ronnie Dawson left the dugout and stood on second base before it even began.
“It is kind of weird,” manager Dusty Baker said, “but we just try to simulate every situation you’re going to run into during the season.”
The team played the entire inning under 2020’s most talkedabout new wrinkle. During regular-season games, each halfinning will begin with a runner on second base, bringing a minor league rule into the majors.
With Dawson at second, Taylor Jones started the inning with a check-swing dribbler up the first-base line. Dawson advanced to third while reliever Chris Devenski recorded the putout.
Baker brought the infield in for Jake Meyers. Meyers hit a chopper toward second base, far enough in the hole for Dawson to score easily.
The situation underscored the downside of the rule. Devenski yielded two weak ground balls yet gave up a run.
Technically, the run would not damage Devenski’s ERA. Official scorers will treat the runner who starts at second base as if he reached on an error — though no error is charged to either team. Devenski’s stat line remained safe, but his team lost the lead.
Last month, Baker said he hopes extra-inning games go back to normal after the 2020 season. He’ll have to cope with it for this 60-game slate, though, prompting questions about strategy. Does Baker plan to bunt, perhaps playing for just the one run?
“You probably wouldn’t do it as the visiting team,” Baker said. “That’s just like kicking a field goal in football; when they get the ball last, they can score a touchdown. They can score two runs and beat you even though you scored a run. You might do it as the home team, but you wouldn’t do it, I don’t think, as the visiting team.”
For players who want to incite a brawl, the 2020 Major League Baseball operations manual promises an immediate ejection along with fines and/or suspensions.
Astros manager Dusty Baker doesn’t view it as much of a deterrent for pitchers who want to plunk his hitters.
“If you’re that mad or you’ve got a short fuse, that’s not going to stop you just because there’s a rule that says you can’t do it,” Baker said. “Boys will be boys.”
In February, amid the leaguewide excoriation of the Astros during their sign-stealing apology tour, Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling acknowledged he’d “lean toward” intentionally hitting a Houston batter if he faced the Astros this season. The Dodgers and Astros are scheduled to play four times in 2020.
Along with Stripling, Reds righthander Trevor Bauer said he was “not going to let them forget the fact that they are hypocrites, they are cheaters,” and Indians righty Mike Clevinger said Astros hitters “shouldn’t be comfortable” in the batter’s box.
In February, Baker pleaded with Major League Baseball to “try to put a stop to the seemingly premeditated retaliation” that was being floated. Four months have passed. Worries about a pandemic and racial inequality seemingly would dwarf any ill will regarding the Astros’ 2017 actions.
“I don’t worry about that until it happens, to tell you the truth,” Baker said. “If someone’s still mad about that, they’re holding a grudge for a long, long time.”