Zack Greinke cares a lot more about winning a game than throwing a no-hitter, but he came close to accomplishing both in his stellar outing against the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night. After coming within just two outs of recording the first no-hitter of his career, the right-hander appears to have changed his stance a bit on the accomplishment.
When he was still with the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier in the season, Greinke carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Washington Nationals. He told reporters after that game that he does not care about throwing a no-hitter and thinks the attention that would come along with it would be a “hassle.”
Zack Greinke says he doesn't care about throwing a no-hitter. He'd rather not deal with the attention he'd get. "It'd be more of a hassle than anything."
— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) June 14, 2019
Following the Houston Astros’ 3-0 win on Wednesday, Greinke said he still thinks there would be “some hassle” associated with throwing a no-hitter. However, he admitted he wanted this one.
Greinke maintains a no-hitter comes with some hassle but he wanted this one. pic.twitter.com/QpIpfaMZbm
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 26, 2019
“There’s some hassle to it, but I think I would have liked to have done it,” Greinke said.
Greinke is a quiet guy who has opened up about struggling with social anxiety in the past, so it’s no surprise he has unique feelings about no-hitters. However, he’s also a tremendous competitor who is 18-5 with a 2.93 ERA and has put together another outstanding season at age 35. Any MLB pitcher would feel a bit sour about coming just two outs shy of a no-no, and Greinke was clearly experiencing some of that.
