Zack Greinke finally resembled the ace pitcher the Angels thought they were getting at the trade deadline, limiting the Tigers to one run over 7 2/3 innings last night as part of a 2-1 victory.
Greinke was fantastic, allowing just five hits while striking out five and walking two. He held the Tigers off the board completely until a solo home run by Miguel Cabrera with two outs in the eighth inning chased him from the ballgame. Cabrera, who left Thursday’s game after tweaking his right ankle, also had a double in the sixth inning.
It was a very encouraging performance by Greinke, who had allowed 22 runs over 32 innings (6.19 ERA) over his previous five starts as a member of the Angels. The impending free agent now has a 3.87 ERA on the year.
Winners of four straight, the Angels are finally starting to get on a bit of a roll. They’ll enter play Saturday at 66-60 on the year and currently sit 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Rangers in the American League West and 2 1/2 games back for the American League Wild Card.
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