Zack Greinke got the call minutes after he had finished with the Yankees, holding them to two earned runs in five innings pitched at Yankee Stadium for the Diamondbacks. The notoriously reclusive right-hander walked off the field and was told he had been dealt to the Astros. He left the Stadium before the game finished and has not looked back.
Even after he was announced as Saturday's Game 1 starter of the American League Championship Series for the Astros against the Yankees, Greinke wasn't looking back on his two starts against them this season for insight.
"Their whole team was hurt both times that I faced them pretty much," Greinke said at Friday's workout.
When asked to elaborate on his impressions of the Yankees, Greinke was just as verbose.
"A lot of good hitters. It's tough to get good hitters out than not as good hitters," Greinke said.
In two starts with the D-backs against the Yankees, Greinke allowed three earned runs on seven hits. He struck out 14 over 12 2/3 innings pitched.
With the Astros needing five games to beat the Rays in their division series, their rotation isn't set up exactly as they had hoped. Justin Verlander, who pitched poorly on shorts rest in Game 4, will start Game 2 at Minute Maid Park Sunday night. The Astros' ace, Gerrit Cole, who pitched in Game 5 of the division series on Thursday night, will not pitch until the series comes back to the Bronx for Game 3 on Tuesday.
Greinke got chased in the fourth in his only start of the ALDS. The Rays put six runs on him on five hits over just 3 2/3 innings. He struck out five.
There was some belief that the long layoff between starts for Greinke, his last regular-season starts was Sept. 24, may have played into his struggles against the Rays.
"I imagine it affected him a little bit for the feel of his pitches, specifically his change-up. That's what we got burned on against Tampa. And some of that was just they put good swings on some pitches and some of it was he threw it in some areas they controlled the strike zone a little bit," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "You put any pitcher, rested, not rested, extra rest, short rest, and you don't execute your pitches against these teams at this level, you're going to get hurt."
