Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke leaves with tightness in right groin

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke left Wednesday’s game after an inning of work against the Cincinnati Reds after experiencing tightness in his right groin.

“It was kinda tight all day but then felt it more so just walking off the mound the last inning,” he said. “It was the first step I took I felt it so I don’t know if it was the last pitch or it was a couple pitches and just didn’t realize it until afterwards but seems pretty small at the moment, so hopefully not a long-term thing.”

Greinke gave up one hit and struck out two in his inning of work. He was expected to throw five innings, but threw only 19 pitches before exiting.

Greinke would not reveal any timeline he had of the injury or a specific label for what the injury is.

“I haven’t heard too much to that far in advance,” he said of the possibility of pitching five days later.

Greinke did not return from the dugout and was replaced by Albert Suarez to start the second inning.

Last week, Greinke pitched in an intrasquad game on the backfields at Salt River Fields. Over 4.2 innings, he allowed one run on six hits, including four doubles, with no walks and three strikeouts.

In both the third and fourth innings, Greinke faced two additional batters following the third out in an effort to increase his pitch-count. The goal, he said, was to reach 60 pitches in what was his third spring appearance. Unofficially, Greinke finished with 57, 39 for strikes.

The former Cy Young Award winner went 17-7 for Arizona last year, posting a 3.20 ERA in 202.1 innings of work with a 1.072 WHIP. He finished fourth in Cy Young voting as the D-backs’ ace and struck out 215 batters with just 45 walks.

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