Arizona’s Greinke’s comeback rolls on with solid showing against Cubs

Zack Greinke has one more spring start before he embarks on what he hopes is a bounce-back season for him and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In an outing he described as “solid,” the right-hander went five innings plus two batters against the reigning World Series champion Chicago Cubs Thursday, allowing three runs and six hits with four strikeouts and one walk.

“I was going a little slow early on but felt pretty strong out there today,” Greinke said. “I made a couple of mistakes, but it was definitely the highest percentage of executed pitches so far.”

His biggest mistake came against pitcher Jake Arrieta, who homered on a 1-2 pitch in the third inning for the Cubs’ first run.

“Not one of my better pitches,” Greinke said.

He threw 83 pitches, 55 strikes.

Cubs

Theo Epstein is the world's greatest leader. So said Fortune magazine, which published its annual list Thursday. Chicago’s president of baseball operations finished in the top spot, ahead of Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Pope Francis at No. 3, Melinda Gates at No. 4 and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos rounded out the top five.

Mets

New York’s Asdrubal Cabrera was ejected from the Mets’ 1-0 loss against Washington by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez after not being granted time on a 3-0 count, then singled on the next pitch and said something to Hernandez on his way to first base. The game was then delayed several minutes while Cabrera slowly walked across the field from the third base dugout to the right-field corner, as The Ballpark at Palm Beaches — the Nationals new spring home — does not have direct access to the visitors’ clubhouse from the dugout.

Mariners

Seattle optioned first baseman Daniel Vogelbach to Class AAA Tacoma, meaning Danny Valencia will be the everyday first baseman when the regular season begins. Vogelbach, a left-handed hitter, and Valencia, who bats righthanded, had been expected to split time at first depending on pitching matchups. But Vogelbach has struggled at the plate this spring, prompting Seattle to make the move.