Zack Greinke only has one strikeout over five innings of work against the Rays. Despite that, he allowed just one run and three this so far, and he’s not walking batters. He did allow another home run, however, a solo shot to Evan Longoria. As I said in my Games of the Day post, Greinke is off, but still good. That one mistake, with Wade Davis pitching well, may cost him the win. The Royals trail 1-0 going to the bottom of the sixth.
Update: Of course, Greinke strikes out two in the sixth. Still 1-0 Rays.
Update: Greinke strikes out six in over his eight inning complete game, but loses 1-0. He may be the most frustrated pitcher in the majors. He allows four hits but no walks.
Davis gives up three hits and three walks, two of the hits for doubles. He lowers his ERA to 2.79. Can we start calling the Rays rotation the Five Aces?
Update: A commenter points to this, The Agony of Being Greinke.
I didn’t see the game, but after looking at the Box Score, the Royals faithful seem to be -very- displeased with the managing of Hillman…
http://www.royalsreview.com/2010/5/2/1455009/royals-cant-support-zack-greinke#storyjump
And this game rather sums up the feeling of Joe Posnanski’s article on Zak, I don’t know if you saw it:
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/04/28/the-agony-of-being-greinke/
Zack needs to get the hell out of KC before it kills him
He carries the entire team on his shoulders….and that can only be done for so long
Request a trade and get out where you can win rings
This is the 2nd 1-0 loss for Greinke in less than a calendar year…last one was in Anaheim, May 9, 2009. I’ve watched both games and this one reminded me of that a lot.
Putting Greinke in for the CG shows how much faith they have in him, or the lack of faith they have in their own bullpen. Pitching a four hit, one run complete game and getting a loss has to be one of the most frustrating things in baseball. They should have taken him out for morale purposes, not leave him in because he may be the best pitcher they had at the time.