Miguel Olivo caught the no-hitter of Anibal Sanchez a few years back, and what the Royals catcher experienced on Saturday night was something close to that. No matter what pitch he called, Zack Greinke seemingly executed it perfectly.
"We'd go with two breaking balls and then a fastball," Olivo said over the phone, "and then the next time we'd go with two fastballs and a breaking ball. We were pitching backwards, we were pitching forwards."
Greatness has long been projected for Greinke, essentially since he was drafted, because of his extraordinary control. And now that he is years past an emotional issue that took him out of baseball for months, now that he is 25 years old, now that the Royals have invested in a long-term deal in him, he appears to be fully blossoming. Greinke has
26 strikeouts in 20 innings, with five walks, and he hasn't allowed a run since, well, last year. His scoreless innings streak reached 34, as he dominated the Rangers
on Saturday night. He still hasn't allowed a home run.
In one sequence of pitches on Saturday, Greinke followed a 96 mph fastball with a 69 mph curveball.
Tony Randazzo, the home plate umpire, remarked to Olivo in the middle innings, "He's got good stuff."
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Buster Olney
