Zack Greinke continues mastery of A's despite diminishing velocity

Share

OAKLAND -- When Zack Greinke won the Cy Young Award 10 years ago with the Kansas City Royals, his average fastball velocity was 94 mph. Now at the age of 35, the right-hander is down in the high-80s, yet somehow just as effective.

Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum, Greinke breezed through the A's lineup for seven innings -- allowing just one run on four hits -- as Houston salvaged the final game of the series 4-1.

"The fastball command was actually really good besides a couple of batters," Greinke said. "The rest was good too, but things were playing off the fastball."

Greinke improved to 7-2 against Oakland for his career with a 2.97 ERA. The veteran painted the corners of the strike zone with all of his pitches, mixing speeds and locations impeccably to keep the A's off-balance all afternoon.

"He just knows how to pitch," said A's outfielder Chad Pinder, who went 1-for-4 in the loss. "He uses every inch of the plate. He's in, he's out, he's mixing his pitches and rarely throwing back-to-back pitches. He just knows what he's doing. He's a great pitcher."

Oakland starter Brett Anderson knew he wouldn't have any margin for error facing Greinke. The A's left-hander took the loss, allowing four earned runs in five innings, and heaped high praise on his counterpart.

"He can throw anything in any count," Anderson said. "I think his range is 66-92 (mph) or whatever, which is incredible. To have all of those pitches come out of the same slot with the same arm speed is a testament -- he's a Hall of Famer in my book.

"Early on, he pitched with mid-90s velocity and as he's gotten older, he's refined his pitches. It's an uncomfortable at-bat because you don't know what you're going to get in any count and any location. He pitched really well today."

Greinke's changeup is actually nearly the same speed as his fastball -- it averages slightly above 87 mph -- but his curveball serves as a true change-of-pace pitch at around 70 mph.

[RELATED: Matt Harvey looks dominant in his first start with A's Triple-A team]

"He does it a little bit differently than a lot of the premier starters," A's manager Bob Melvin explained. "He paints with his fastball. His changeup is almost the same speed as his fastball, yet it dives off the table and goes straight down. (He throws a) curveball for chase, curveball for strike, sliders to the right-handers, and really doesn't give you a whole lot to hit."

Sunday's win marked the 200th of Greinke's illustrious career against just 122 losses. Since joining the Astros at the MLB Trade Deadline, he is 3-0 with a 2.37 ERA. If he can continue to pitch at this level, Houston could find itself celebrating a second World Series title in three years.

Contact Us