Right-hander Zack Greinke of the Arizona Diamondbacks would prefer to save pitching against the Colorado Rockies for opening day.
There is always a quiet affirmation that pitcher Zack Greinke of the Arizona Diamondbacks creates his own routine. While there is usually an agenda mapped by club officials and the medical staff for a prescribed program, the unwritten edict around teams on which he played is to simply leave Greinke alone.
That became apparent Friday when Greinke and team officials believed that the best scenario was not for Grienke to face the Colorado Rockies in a spring game. Because Greinke will likely open the season March 29 in Chase Field against the Rockies, there was no need to show your hand to this opponent.
Earlier in camp, manager Torey Lovullo pulled Robbie Ray against a possible start against the Rox and instead, Ray faced the Reds in Goodyear. Not there is a danger of giving hints and clues to opponents, managers like to stay clear of exposing pitchers to teams within the division during spring contests.
Now, that seems to be a double standard because Ray is scheduled to start against NL West division rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.
At any rate, Greinke was pulled from a game against the Rox at Salt River. Instead, Greinke went in a B game against a group of Diamondbacks’ minor leaguers. In a controlled environment of 45 pitches, Greinke told Call to the Pen his goal was work on locating pitches and perfecting fast ball command.
"“Wanted to build up the pitch count,” he said.” I thought things went pretty good. Just want consistency with everything and command. (On Friday), fast ball command was little better than before (first spring start last Sunday), but still has to get better.”"
During the outing, outfielder Socrates Brito, who went down in spring training last year with a dislocated fourth finger on his right hand and had difficult recovering, homered off Greinke. The bomb came off a two-seam fast ball, and Greinke told Call to the Pen that pitch may be scratched from his play book.
"“It was a two-seamer which I usually don’t throw it,” he said. “That reminded me of why I really don’t throw it very often. It was a fast ball over the plate, middle in and he hit a homer.”"
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Not so much as a reward, but Lovullo told Call to the Pen that Brito is penciled to DH against the Dodgers on Saturday.
On the diamond …
With a 15-6 defeat to the Colorado Rockies before 8,876 Friday at Salt River, the Diamondbacks drop to 3-6 on the spring.
Down 3-0 early, Jake Lamb smoked a grand slam just inside the right-field foul pole against Rox starter Chad Bettis in the fourth, and A. J. Pollock drove in a run with a fifth-inning single.
Former Diamondback Chris Iannetta slammed two homers, drove in five runs for the Rox and prompted his ex-manager Torey Lovullo to sing his praise.
"“I can’t say enough about what Chris for us last season,” Lovullo told Call to the Pen after the game. “If you make a mistake, he’ll put a change into it. Against us now, we have to figure out a way that this doesn’t happen again.”"
Next: Avila brings veteran presence to DBacks
Minor league catcher Michael Perez homered for the Diamondbacks with the bases empty in the ninth. For the game, the Rox collected 20 hits, a team-high this spring.