Greinke ready for fifth opening day start

JUPITER, Fla. — Zack Greinke will take the baseball on April 1 against the Oakland A’s amid all of the pregame pageantry — a full lineup introduction along the first-base line, bunting adorning the upper-deck railing and the palpable enthusiasm that baseball is back. He started four other opening days during his decorated career. The fifth will feel much like the others.

“Never cared about it. Still don’t care about it,” said Greinke, who spoke Sunday for the first time since manager Dusty Baker named him the opening day starter. “I guess it gives you a better chance to make more starts during the season. That’s about the main positive for me — you have a better chance of making 32, 33, 34 or 35 starts.”

Greinke has a horrific track record in his four other opening day starts, including a seven-run disaster for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019. He has a 8.20 ERA in the four outings, a mark he can improve in 12 days.

Absent for most of last week while tending to a personal matter, Greinke returned to his regular spring rotation on Sunday. He built his pitch count to 68 across 41⁄3 innings against the Miami Marlins. One of the two runs scored against him crossed unearned. He struck out one and induced just six swings and misses.

Greinke lamented his lackluster slider, a pitch he has prioritized fixing this spring. He threw it 16 percent of the time last season, mainly against righthanded hitters. Opponents had a .426 slugging percentage against it. Hitters posted a .308 batting average and .420 slugging percentage against the pitch in 2019, too.

“It hasn’t really been good the last couple years, especially last year,” Greinke said. “It feels good, just the results aren’t good. I got a good, moving one right now, but I can’t control it. If I can control it, it’d be great. But I threw way too many nowhere close to where I wanted to throw them. It’s not a good pitch if I can’t command it.”

Greinke possesses six pitches and can throw either his changeup or curveball if the slider is subpar. Even with it ineffective in 2020, though, Greinke’s slider was still his third-highest used pitch.

The veteran righthander will receive one more Grapefruit League start to make his final adjustments. Greinke hopes to get near 80 or 85 pitches and rediscover the slider.

“I probably used (the slider) 15 or 20 a game last year, still, so I could maybe do that and just not have every pitch be real good and have one just be OK,” Greinke said. “I don’t know, That’s probably the plan, I guess, is to at least use it a decent amount, knowing it’s not my best pitch. It’s not a bad pitch still, just not a quality pitch.”

Scrubb sidelined three to four days

Reliever Andre Scrubb has no structural damage in his right shoulder, manager Dusty Baker revealed on Sunday afternoon, good news for a young pitcher who appeared headed for a far worse outcome.

Scrubb will not throw for three or four days due to inflammation, Baker said. Scrubb exited Friday night’s Grapefruit League game against the Washington Nationals with head trainer Jeremiah Randall after his fastball velocity decreased.

Catcher Martin Maldonado said Sunday that Scrubb’s fastball registered just 86 mph — he averaged 92.9 mph last season — prompting him to summon the trainer from the dugout. Scrubb left the game without much of a conversation.

Though far shorter than once feared, Scrubb’s shutdown may severely hinder his shot at the opening day roster. Scrubb is in competition with veteran sidearmer Steve Cishek for one of the Astros’ final two bullpen spots.

Cishek pushing for bullpen spot

Steve Cishek is readying for the regular season — even if it’s still uncertain he’ll get there.

Cishek, the veteran sidearmer in Astros camp as a non-roster invitee, struck out two more batters in a relief appearance on Sunday against the Miami Marlins. He’s going to pitch again on Monday, too, for his first back-to-back appearance of spring training. There are plans for him to throw more than one inning in an outing later next week, too.

“We’re preparing as if I’m getting geared up for the regular season,” Cishek said.

Cishek appears closer to cementing his spot in Houston’s opening day bullpen. Since allowing back-toback-to-back home runs in his Grapefruit League debut, Cishek has 11 strikeouts in 52⁄3 scoreless innings. He yielded a single to Lewis Brinson on Sunday, but stranded him on second base with two strikeouts.

“Coming in as a nonroster invite, I kind of liked it in a way because I wanted to have that little chip on my shoulder coming into spring training where I’ve had it pretty relaxed over the last few years,” said Cishek, who has 594 major league appearances. “Just wanted the pressure put on me a little bit and see how it turns out and assess where I’m really at. The outings have been solid, I feel like, apart from that last one.”

Cishek said he does not have an opt out date in his contract that would hasten Houston’s decision-making process. He will make $2.25 million if he breaks camp with the Astros — a team monitoring its positioning toward the $210 million competitive balance tax. Without Cishek, the Astros have a $203,591,310 CBT payroll.