Grand debut at Sahlen Field
Maldonado, Correa lead hit parade while Greinke finishes what he starts
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Astros righthander Zack Greinke was two outs away from competing a fifth scoreless inning when Blue Jays outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. struck a short ground ball to the right side, fielded by his brother, Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel. Greinke galloped to cover first base and made the out. After the dust settled, shortstop Carlos Correa lobbed a playful insult at his starting pitcher.
“I told him he looked really unathletic,” Correa said. “He started laughing. He said ‘Yeah, it did look unathletic.’ ”
Evidently, the comment kept Greinke loose as he threw his first complete game in more than three years — and his first in an Astros uniform. His last complete game was an eight-inning outing for Arizona on April 19, 2017. His last nineinning complete game was for the Diamondbacks on June 7, 2016.
The 37-year-old spun 102 pitches into nine innings of one-run ball in Friday’s 13-1 victory against the Blue Jays, his second consecutive start eclipsing the century mark
for pitch count.
“He was trying to do the Maddux complete game under 100 pitches. He almost made it,” manager Dusty Baker said. “We had a big offensive output. He had everything working for him. He had his changeup, his fastball, breaking ball. He had everything working, including his defense up the middle. So he played a very good game tonight.”
Greinke said his endurance felt so good that he lobbied to pitch the ninth inning even though the Astros had already spotted a 12-run lead.
“This is one of the first times where I’ve felt really strong start to end,” he said. “Today was the first day where it felt just as good, if not better, in the last inning as it did in the first inning. That happened to me last year, but this is one of the first times this year where it happened.”
The starter mostly kept to himself during Friday’s game, preferring to be alone with his thoughts in the tunnel rather than watch his teammates scorch the Blue Jays for 16 hits.
“Zack doesn’t show much emotion,” Baker said. “He just goes about his job, he works hard at it and he enjoys pitching. He enjoys his teammates ,and his teammates enjoy him.”
“It’s so much fun,” Correa said. “It’s great playing behind Zack Greinke. I love it. He works fast, he throws strikes, he keeps you on your toes.”
In 13 starts this season, Greinke (6-2) has amassed a 3.38 ERA and 1.09 WHIP over 822⁄3 innings pitched. He said he’s felt especially in sync lately with catcher Martín Maldonado, whom he was previously teammates with in Milwaukee.
“We’ve been on a good rhythm the last five games, better than ever,” Greinke said. “We talked a decent amount about when I want to use certain pitches and where I want to throw them. We’ve always done that but we changed it up about five starts ago on how I wanted to pitch. He has gone along with it, and it’s been working pretty good.”
Asked to elaborate, Maldonado added, “It’s very hard for me to tell you guys just because he’s going to continue pitching. It’s pretty much do what he does good. The guy’s going to be a Hall of Famer. Sometimes he gets away from who he was or who he has been his whole career. Pretty much along that line.”
In his last five starts, Greinke averaged 97.2 pitches per game with a 66.7 percent strike rate while decreasing his ERA from 4.23 to 3.38. The Astros went 4-1 in those games, the lone defeat a 9-2 loss to the Dodgers in which Greinke surrendered four runs but Houston relievers issued three bases-loaded walks.
If that Dodgers loss was an example of the bullpen troubles slowly poisoning the Astros this season, consider Greinke’s performance in Buffalo an antidote.
“He’s been a lifesaver not only for us but for our bullpen and our pitching staff as well,” Baker said.
Greinke began Friday with a four-pitch first inning. He allowed one base runner aboard in the second, but Maldonado threw him out stealing second. Through four innings, Greinke faced 14 batters and struck out three. He allowed a two-out solo home run and a single in the bottom of the seventh but induced a popout in foul territory to work out of a jam.
So when the bottom of the ninth rolled around, there were more reasons than not for the Astros to let Greinke finish what he started.
“Arm felt strong, mechanics felt good still, all my pitches were good,” Greinke said. “A lot of balls were hit really hard, there was no mistakes defensively and a lot of quick outs. Not the softest hits but it just worked out good, and then we got two outs on the bases which is nice too, so it kept the pitch count down. All those reasons.”
After center fielder Myles Straw caught a fly ball to record the final out, Correa approached the mound and dropped the baseball into Greinke’s glove.
“I’m going to try to keep it,” Greinke said, “but 90plus percent of the time I end up losing it somewhere.”
If you must, pencil in “forgetful” to the list of Greinke’s faults, right next to the “unathletic” ascribed to him by Correa. For the sake of gems like Friday’s game, the Astros will gladly live with them.