Zack Greinke vs. Shohei Ohtani produced two great moments, one for each star

Royals starter Zack Greinke has said frequently this season that he’s had trouble getting outs with his curveball.

But that didn’t stop Greinke from throwing one Sunday to Angels star Shohei Ohtani during LA’s 5-2 win over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

With the Royals holding a 1-0 lead in the third inning, Greinke threw a 71 mph curveball on a 2-2 count that left Ohtani flailing.

That ended the inning, and it was vintage Greinke, who reduced the speed of the pitch so dramatically that it fooled Ohtani.

Round One went to Greinke.

Two innings later, Ohtani stepped to the plate with a runner on second base. With a full count, Greinke again tried a slow approach. This time, his curveball was blasted to right field.

Greinke tried going even slower, throwing a 69.7 mph curveball. Ohtani was ready for it and the exit velocity was 117.1 mph on the home run.

“(Ohtani’s) hit some far ones, but that may have been the loudest one,” Angels manager Phil Nevin told MLB.com’s Jackson Stone. “It looked like he was sitting on that curveball, got it on a good part of the bat and smoked it. It was a nice series, a nice road trip for Sho. When your superstars step up in big places, it gives everybody else around you a lot of confidence.”

Round Two went to Ohtani, but Greinke blamed himself for the home run.

“The only at-bat where I didn’t execute was the Ohtani one where he hit the homer,” he said. “Just a lot of bad pitches that at-bat. Wasn’t executing anything that whole at-bat.”

Greinke was asked about the pitch location.

“There really wasn’t a good location,” Greinke said. “I didn’t have a good option at that time. Really, I was just hoping something would work.”

The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff contributed to this story