You knew it was going to be a bad day when Zack Greinke got hurt before the third inning was over. He wasn't pitching lights out when he got drilled on the right forearm by a line drive off the bat of Carlos Guillen, but he hadn't given up any runs. He was moving the ball in and out well. He was changing speeds well. And Tigers hitters seemed content to just try to hit the ball up the middle. Guillen was one of those hitters.
Greinke threw a few warm up tosses after he was hit with Guillen's line drive, but he was unable to continue. X-rays were negative and it turns out that he has a bruised forearm. He will be evaluated again today.
The game was scoreless until the sixth when former Royal, Rondell White, took Mike Wood deep. Wood opened the flood gates in the next inning and the Tigers put the game away scoring six runs in the inning.
John Buck is beginning to look like "the catcher of the future" that we were hoping for. Early in the game, he was quick to remind Greinke to get over and cover first base when a left handed hitter came up. In the fourth inning, the Royals pitched out and Buck threw out Carlos Pena, who was attempting to steal second base, by a good two or three feet. Couple his defense with his .293 average, 2 home runs, and 4 RBI this spring and he is looking like a complete package.
Game Notes:
- Pena decided to give Matt Stairs the day off because he had a tight hamstring and the game time temperature was 55 degrees
- Sweeney was the DH for the second day in a row…Eli Marrero got the nod at first again
- Tony Graffanino started at second base for the second day in a row over the stated starter Ruben Gotay
- Terrence Long went 3-4
- Emil Brown hit his first home run of the season
The boys in blue flew to Anaheim last night and will take on the Los Angeles Angels tonight. Denny Bautista gets his first start of the season for the Royals and he'll be up against former Royal, Paul Byrd.
As planned, Brian Anderson has been added to the rotation and will follow Lima, who is scheduled to pitch on Saturday.
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