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Greinke dominates as Royals shut out Yankees

Apr 10, 2008 - 4:45 AM By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Zack Greinke and bad weather proved too much for the New York Yankees to overcome in a 4-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

John Buck broke a scoreless tie by leading off the fifth inning with a solo homer, providing Greinke with the only offense he would need.

The 24-year-old righthander shut out the Yankees on six hits over eight innings, walking two and striking out two, as only four Yankees batters advanced past first base.

"Once guys got on base he made his pitches more crisp," New York left fielder Johnny Damon said. "We had some doubles but were unable to capitalize. He was throwing 95 miles per hour, with sink and cut, and a good curveball. He was in command."

"I had good arm strength and I felt like I could have finished the game," Greinke said. "I felt better in the eighth than I did in the first. But our bullpen's going great."

Greinke (2-0) has allowed just one run through his first two starts while holding opponents to a .222 average over 15 innings and forging a 0.60 ERA.

"My location wasn't perfect," Greinke said. "But I wasn't trying to be real fine. I wasn't trying to be off, just not as fine."

"His ability to get ahead and make pitches when he had to, to get ground balls, made the difference," Buck said. "When he did make mistakes, it was after he had made such good pitches before to set it up that they missed it."

Jose Guillen added an insurance run with a two-out single in the fifth before the Royals broke the game open with a pair of tallies in the sixth on Ross Gload's double and Tony Pena's RBI groundout.

Jimmy Gobble recorded his first save of the season, getting the last two outs to seal the whitewash.

"It's nice to get the save," Gobble said. "It's better to do my job, to get my guys out. Our situational pitching has been great. Everybody has been picking everybody else up. We're growing and that's what it's all about."

Rain fell steadily throughout the contest. The forecast led Yankees manager Joe Girardi to hold Ian Kennedy out of his scheduled start.

"We chose to use the bullpen first until it became an official game," Girardi said. "I think that we pitched pretty well. Our relievers did the job, but we didn't score any runs. That's why we didn't win."

Righthander Brian Bruney made the start for New York, pitching two scoreless innings. Lefthander Billy Traber tossed a scoreless third inning before giving way to righthander Kyle Farnsworth.

"I didn't want to give him a chance to get to his other stuff," Buck said of hitting Farnsworth's first pitch in the fifth inning into the left field fountains, a drive estimated at 439 feet. "He's got nasty stuff and I wanted to get to the first pitch I could handle. I enjoyed the homer and that's what got us started."

Including Buck's homer, Farnsworth (0-1) allowed a pair of runs on four hits in two innings before Kennedy finished with three innings, permitting two hits and two runs while striking out three and walking two.

"It's hard going into the game in the middle," Kennedy said. "Batters are adjusted and you are not. I don't like it."

Due to injuries, the Yankees played without shortstop Derek Jeter and catcher Jorge Posada. Both players are considered day-to-day and are expected to miss Thursday's series finale against the Royals.

New York has scored 25 runs in nine games this year, second- fewest in the American League.

"There are guys on this team who are going to hit, no doubt," Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi said. "It seems like when we do get a rally going they make a good pitch and we ground into a double play. We're just not getting those hits to fall in."

"Our approach is not bad," Girardi said. "We're just not getting a lot of results right now. We believe in this offense. Eventually they are going to hit."

With wins in their first two games of the series, the Royals already have won twice as many games as they did all of last year against the Yankees.

"They've got a group of young kids running around like maniacs," Giambi said. "And we're looking like a bunch of old men. It was wet out there, and it got worse at the end, but that's no excuse. Both teams have to play in the same conditions."

Kansas City's 6-2 start is its best since opening the 2003 season by winning its first nine.

"Not many people thought we'd be here," Buck said. "So why stop now?"