Most pitchers protect their signs and try to hide their tells. Zack Greinke does not follow such conventions.
On Wednesday, with his outing nearing its end in the seventh inning, Greinke gave away his pitch before even letting it go. Players inside Minute Maid Park once knew what pitch was coming, but not by this sort of blatant action.
Mauricio Dubon stood in for the Giants. Lefthander Brooks Raley warmed in the Astros’ bullpen, and runners stood at first and second with nobody out. Inside the empty ballpark, Greinke shouted to catcher Martin Maldonado.
“The second set after two!” Greinke shouted, to the amazement of the Astros’ television broadcasters. Between laughs, analyst Geoff Blum proclaimed, “They know what signs they’re going with.”
Greinke said he gives away his signs only when runners are aboard. He likes to work fast, and shaking off Maldonado and going to a new set of signs could take too long.
“I kind of like it,” Maldonado said. “It is one way for him to not shake off. He doesn’t have to say no to a sign and we have to go to an all different set of signs. I think that it’s pretty smart.
“He’s one of the smartest guys I’ve caught in my career.”
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Dubon saw four pitches — a four-seam fastball, a slow curveball and two cutters. The Giants’ nine-hole hitter skied the second cutter to right field. Josh Reddick squeezed the out that ended Greinke’s night.
Greinke exited the field with a smile. He’d begged manager Dusty Baker for a longer leash in his previous two outings against the Angels and A’s. Baker nevertheless pulled him after 83 and 84 pitches, respectively.
On Wednesday, Greinke threw 94 pitches. Leadoff hitter Mike Yastrzemski was coming up for a fourth at-bat against him. The other three ended in base hits.
“I said, ‘OK, how you feel this time?’” Baker said. “He goes, ‘Well, I’ve got a little bit left in the tank, but this lefty better get him out.’”
Raley did, helping preserve Greinke’s first win of the season.
Greinke’s ERA now sits at 2.53. In his last 18 innings, he has yielded three earned runs. His endurance appears acceptable after his summer camp ramp-up went awry due to delayed workouts. Greinke threw into the seventh inning Wednesday for the first time all season.
“He’s mixing in everything,” Baker said. “Typical Greinke.”
Little about Greinke is actually typical. After exiting his start last week against Oakland, he sat among the cardboard cutouts at the Coliseum to maintain proper social distance. During that outing, most began to notice a new wrinkle in Greinke’s pre-pitch routine.
Occasionally, he will either speak or signal what pitch he intends to throw. He clarified Wednesday he is now calling his pitches and giving away his signs when runners reach second base.
Dubon saw it in the seventh inning while Brandon Crawford stood at second base. Greinke spoke the signs to Maldonado then. Other times, television cameras have captured Greinke holding fingers toward the catcher, signaling what pitch he might throw.
“I don’t like taking a long time with a man on second base especially,” Greinke said. “I’m trying to find ways to speed that up.”
The practice is aided by a relationship with Maldonado. The battery worked together in Milwaukee during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. No one on the Astros knows Greinke’s repertoire better.
“He’s really smart, and he understands what’s happening, but you can tell sometimes we’re not 100 percent sure that I’m throwing what he’s expecting,” Greinke said. “I think it helps throwing to the same catcher. For the most part, it’s been good.”
During his previous start in Oakland, Greinke was seen flashing the sign for a curveball to A’s leadoff hitter Marcus Semien. Semien got the pitch and popped it up. That, apparently, is not always the case.
“Sometimes I call the same pitch that I throw,” Greinke said. “Most of the time, it’s not the same pitch.”
Greinke downplayed the tactic’s effectiveness Wednesday. He said it may be “getting too tricky.”
“I felt like it slowed the pace down today, the way it was happening,” Greinke said. “I’m trying to get it to where we could do things faster. I work slow, and I try to speed it up.”
Any ill effects were not noticed. Greinke threw 61/3 splendid innings. His fastball command was brilliant. His sinker and slider combined to induce 10 swings and misses. He struck out a man in each inning he worked.
“I don’t know if he’s calling his own pitches or not. I don’t know what that means with the 1-2-3 or 1-1-1,” Baker said. “I don’t know what it means. Just get him out.
“I think they broke the mold on Greinke. You probably won’t see another Greinke in your lifetime. Or mine either.”
chandler.rome@chron.com
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Zack Greinke speeds up tempo with strange tactic - Houston Chronicle
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