This is the Zack Greinke that Royals fans are used to seeing. It always helps a pitcher too when he has early offense. Spotted an early 3-0 lead, Greinke took care of the rest going 8-plus innings in a 4-2 Royals win over the Cardinals Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Greinke took a shutout into the ninth inning, but he allowed the first two Cardinals to reach base in the ninth including Ryan Ludwick who was safe on catcher’s interference.
Cards’ manager Tony LaRussa said they had their chances against Greinke
Joakim Soria came in and gave up a sac fly to Felipe Lopez and a RBI single to David Freese before closing out Greinke’s second win in three starts with his 18th save.Â
Ryan Ludwick says Greinke 2-8 record coming in is deceptive
Jeff Suppan fell to 0-3, his first official loss since joining the Cardinals. He had just one bad inning and that came in the third. Scott Podsednik tripled into the and scored on Jason Kendall’s single. Billy Butler and Jose Guillen followed with RBI singles. Guillen extended his career best hitting streak to 19 games, tied with the ongoing streak by Texas’ Josh Hamilton for longest in the majors
The Royals made it 4-0 in the eighth when pinchrunner Willie Bloomquist scored from third as the Cardinals failed to turn an inning ending double play on Mitch Maier’s grounder.
Jason Kendall on the early run support for Greinke
Suppan went five innings and allowed seven hits while walking two and striking out five. The Royals’ win snapped a five game Cardinals winning streak at the K.
