Diamondbacks’ Zack Greinke finds success with changeup against Yankees
May 17, 2016, 11:42 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks' Zack Greinke throws a pitch against the New York Yankees during the seventh inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks defeated the Yankees 5-3. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Not often do pinstripes accompany the medicine for an ailing baseball team.
There’s always a chance for a first, and the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 5-3 win Tuesday behind Zack Greinke gave them their first regular season series win over the New York Yankees in franchise history.
Greinke went just beyond seven frames with just a solo home run against him and was pulled in the eighth after he allowed two runners to reach base. By the end of the eighth, he’d been tagged with three earned runs and five hits while striking out seven.
As teammates Daniel Hudson would attest, the line didn’t exactly match another successful outing for the Diamondbacks ace.
That was an awesome atmosphere to pitch in tonight! Love that. Zack threw a hell of game! Deserved a way better line than he ended up with
— Daniel Hudson (@DHuddy41) May 18, 2016
D-backs manager Chip Hale credited the pitcher with an all-around strong outing while Greinke said it was one of his two-best outings — his start in San Francisco being the other.
Both agreed that it was Greinke’s changeup that acted as his most effective tool.
“He threw the ball well, used his changeup, was really working down,” Hale told the media after the game. “You saw in the eighth (inning) there it started to elevate, they got a couple hits on it. Before that, it was a knockout pitch for him, was able to get ahead on the fastball when he knew guys were swinging … slider, curveball, all of them.
“Probably the only thing he didn’t do tonight was hit.”
Countered Greinke, who credited Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda: “He’s pretty nasty. Tough to hit.”
Greinke credited his changeup location being more in the strikezone this game for putting more balls in play. He recorded 10 groundouts to just four flyouts.
“That was definitely a valuable pitch. Good fastball location, slider was pretty sharp also,” Greinke said. “Got more balls put in play this time.
“Just got to be consistent. Had too many bad games so far this year. Have more games like this, I’ll be alright.”
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