What went wrong for KC Royals starter Zack Greinke in loss to Minnesota Twins

Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke won’t be adding Thursday night’s performance to his career highlight reel. The likely future Hall of Famer had a performance to forget in the Royals’ 7-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.

Greinke felt the score didn’t reflect how he felt on the mound.

“I felt pretty good,” said Greinke. “Stuff was pretty sharp. I think the command was a little off, but overall a little surprised they hit me as good as they did. Tough game. Felt good going in. Felt good most of the game, but didn’t work out very good.”

Greinke lasted 3 2/3 innings, surrendering seven runs, including two home runs. The righty threw 88 pitches, 53 for strikes, and walked two batters. He gave up three runs between the first two innings and then imploded in the fourth. That inning was headlined by back-to-back home runs.

“It was unusual, it seemed like a little bit (of) lack of command,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro. “The pitch count got up there early, even the innings where they didn’t put up (a lot of production) — they scored one, scored two. The pitch count was elevated, it just didn’t seem like he was commanding it as well as he normally does.”

On the flip side, Diamondbacks starting pitcher Tyler Mahle dominated the Royals. It took four innings for the Royals to get a hit — a solo shot by Vinnie Pasquantino.

Mahle exited after four innings with an apparent elbow injury, having struck out six. The Royals totaled three hits and stranded four. With the loss, KC fell to 6-20 on the year.

A disastrous fourth inning for the Royals

Heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Twins had a 3-1 lead. By the end of the inning, the game was all but over.

How? Back-to-back home runs.

First, Minnesota’s Christian Vazquez singled with one out. Greinke recorded another out but then started to unravel. Twins center fielder Michael A. Taylor, formerly of the Royals, singled, which moved Vazquez to second.

Then, Byron Buxton connected on a Greinke curveball and hit a home run to deep center.

Carlos Correa followed with a solo shot. Those runs put the game out of reach for Kansas City.

Pasquantino breaks no-hit bid

It took four innings, but the Royals finally got a hit off Mahle in Pasquantino’s second at-bat.

The first baseman connected on Mahle’s splitter for his fifth home run of the year. The home run put the Royals on the scoreboard, but they didn’t add any run support after.

“He gave me a splitter or a changeup ... and I was able to do some damage on it,” Pasquantino said.

Up next

The Royals continue a four-game series against the Twins at 3:10 p.m. Central on Friday.

Jordan Lyles will face Minnesota’s Pablo Lopez as the Royals attempt to win their first game against the Twins in 2023. KC is 0-4 against Minnesota following Thursday’s game.