Greinke calling his pitch.
Spoiler Alert: It worked out poorly. pic.twitter.com/fTrnvC12Ix
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 8, 2020
Oh, Houston Astros. What did we do to deserve you?
Thursday afternoon the Astros played the Oakland Athletics in Game 4 of the ALDS, and Zach Greinke took the bump for the first time in the series.
Recently Greinke has been caught on camera calling out his own pitches, and he’s had success doing it. It could be to make up for the fact that the Astros cheated better than anyone else did on their way to a World Series Championship. It could be because the righty has made just shy of $250 million in his 16-year career, and he’s trying to keep himself engaged.
Probably a little bit of both.
In any event, the All-Star appeared to call another of his own pitches during the second inning of a nil-nil ballgame — or maybe he was signaling the set of signs they would use to his catcher — throwing up a two before hanging a curve to Ramón Laureano.
New Jack City.
Laureano got a hold of it and crushed the pitch to left center. The ball might still be in the air for all we know. The dinger scored both Olson and Canha, and the Athletics took a 3-0 lead.
You might not like the Houston Astros. You might not like what the long ball has done to the game of baseball *cough* Brian Murphy *cough*. But you have to enjoy the drama that a villain like the Astros brings to the sport.
Let Greinke tip his pitches. Let the kids hit the long ball and celebrate. And let the old timers complain.
What a sport.
If the Athletics hold on to win the game and tie the series at 2-2, Game 5 would be on Friday at 12:35 p.m. PT.