Having hit his stride, Greinke dominates Astros in win

Now that’s what the Arizona Diamondbacks paid for.

Zack Greinke dominated the Houston Astros Thursday, allowing just four hits while walking none and striking out 11 in seven innings of work. The D-backs won 3-0, and may have officially rediscovered their ace in the process.

To wit: Of the right-hander’s 103 pitches, 74 were for strikes. He did not allow a hit until George Springer’s fourth-inning single, and just once did a runner advance past first base with him on the mound.

“It was excellent,” D-backs manager Chip Hale said of Greinke’s performance. “It was exactly what we needed. Number one, getting the length of at least seven innings to help our bullpen out, and he was just masterful out there.”

The outing led to Greinke’s seventh victory of the season, and his ERA now sits at 4.29, the lowest it has been following any start this season.

“The first couple innings were really good and (I) just tried to stay there because throughout this year so far I’ve done that multiple times but then gotten worse as the game went on,” Greinke said after the game. “And so today, stayed sharp throughout the whole game.”

Greinke noted that he wasn’t as great in the fifth inning, as a couple balls were hit hard, but besides that he “felt really good” about his day.

While easily his best outing of the season, Greinke’s performance was just another high point in what has been a string of pretty strong performances of late. After posting a 2-2 record with a 5.50 ERA in six April starts, he went on to go 4-1 with a 3.82 ERA in five May outings. He has now allowed three runs or fewer in five of his last seven starts, but credits his teammates for much of his success.

“We’ve been playing really well in the games I’ve pitched, and I think this is probably the least amount of runs in those games we’ve been playing really well when I’ve been pitching pretty much the whole year,” he said.

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