While many of the 24,000+ fans came out to see Zack Greinke’s first appearance in Kauffman Stadium since his trade to Milwaukee, they were treated by Royals starter Luis Mendoza flirting with a no-hitter. Neither starter got a decision and in the end, the Royals came away with a 2-1 win.
Mendoza took his no-hit bid into the seventh inning, when Ryan Braun led off with an infield single and ended up on third after throwing errors from Mike Moustakas and Chris Getz. A walk to Aramis Ramirez ended Mendoza’s night as the Royals managed just one run off Greinke.
Aaron Crow came on in relief and gave up a fly ball out to left field and Alex Gordon threw out Braun trying to score. However, Rickie Weeks delivered a single scoring Ramirez from second base.
In the eighth, Gordon doubled and moved to third on a sac bunt, before scoring the winning run on a single from Billy Butler off Francisco Rodriquez.
Greinke’s only mistake was a lead off homer to Gordon to start the game. After that Greinke was in control, allowing just six total hits and eight strikeouts in seven innings.