Hunter Greene allowed seven hits and two runs with one walk and three strikeouts over five innings in a loss to the Royals on Wednesday.
The juxtaposition of Greene and the soft-tossing Noah Cameron in this game was stark. While both pitched well, Greene was outdueled mostly because his pitch count climbed above 40 through his first two innings and he was never able to quite settle in. His fastball command was a bit erratic and it only forced four whiffs on 28 total swings. Instead, it was often far off the plate and able to be laid off of or caught too much of it and was fought off for a whopping 11 foul balls. He also took a line drive off his ankle in the fourth inning and stayed in the game after being looked at by trainers. This wasn’t a bad start by any means, but Greene has elevated his game so much this season that more strikeouts are expected. He’ll look to get back on track next time out against the Brewers.