Greinke impresses again, but bats remain in funk

KANSAS CITY -- Two starts into his 20th Major League season, Zack Greinke has allowed three runs in 11 1/3 innings, good for a 2.38 ERA.

Yet the Royals' veteran starter is 0-2 in the young 2023 season and has received zero runs of support in both of his starts, including Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals have played six games and been shut out in three of them, and after mustering just two hits Wednesday, they became the ninth team since 1901 to get shut out on two hits or fewer twice within the first six games of a season (and the first since the 2013 Pirates).

“When we’re getting starting pitching like we’ve been getting, it’s a bummer that we can’t string a couple together and get more runs,” said bench coach Paul Hoover, who is the interim manager while Matt Quatraro recovers from COVID-19. “Give them a little bit more of a cushion. But that’s baseball, too, right? All they can do is continue to have the good at-bats that they’ve been having, and the results will come.”

Greinke was sharp Wednesday night, aided some by the cold weather and good defensive positioning, given that the Blue Jays averaged a 93 mph exit velocity against the right-hander. But he kept them on their toes with a good mix of six pitches, leaning on his curveball the most, while also getting three whiffs on eight swings with his slider. The 39-year-old went toe to toe with Toronto starter Alek Manoah, who tossed seven scoreless.

“He’s the definition of pitching,” Manoah said. “He’s obviously a future Hall of Famer. It was great to be able to go 0-0 for five or six innings there. That was pretty fun.”

Greinke cruised through four innings -- including a four-pitch fourth -- on 43 pitches and was at 77 pitches at the end of the sixth, sparking a conversation about whether to send him out for the seventh to face the bottom of the lineup. After an 18-pitch sixth inning and seeing the data from that frame, the Royals turned to their bullpen.

“I felt strong at the end," Greinke said. "Stuff just wasn’t going as sharp, because it was located pretty good the last inning, but they were on a lot of stuff. The movement was a little less. … They were clearly seeing the ball better, so it made sense.”

The one run Greinke allowed came on a defensive misplay from shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in the sixth. Toronto third baseman Matt Chapman hit a sharp grounder at second baseman Michael Massey, who fielded it cleanly to start a potential double play. Witt got the out at second but rushed through his throw to first, and it short-hopped in the dirt. First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino couldn’t pick it, leading to a run scored.

"A play that [Witt’s] going to make 99 out of 100 times, and for whatever reason, tonight was not the night,” Hoover said. “Unfortunate for Zack that we end up giving up a run. But he was outstanding.”

Pasquantino took blame for the play, too.

“I’m going to lose a little bit of sleep over that one tonight,” Pasquantino said. “I got to do a better job. I got to dig that out for Bobby and for Zack. They’re working way too hard for me to not be able to dig that ball out.”

The Blue Jays added to their lead with two in the eighth off Taylor Clarke, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a leadoff homer, Daulton Varsho doubled and Chapman knocked an RBI single.

But when the offense is sputtering, mistakes like the one in the sixth are amplified. The Royals drew four walks off Manoah on Wednesday, and they averaged 93.5 mph exit velocity. The hitters seem confident in their approach and trusting the process. Even Greinke has been pleased with the at-bats.

“There have been some games I thought we swung pretty good, just didn’t work out,” Greinke said.

But at some point, the Royals need to see results.

“I think guys are taking a lot of pride in how hard we’re hitting the ball,” Pasquantino said. “It’s a weird debate nowadays, like what matters. What matters is scoring runs. So we got to find a way to do it. We’re in a little bit of a rut right now, 1-5. So we just got to figure out a way to put runs on the board. That’s all that matters.”