Zack Greinke is known as one of the fiercest competitors on the mound. But on Tuesday night, the Kansas City Royals pitcher couldn’t help but break character.
Greinke was seen sporting a sheepish grin as Cleveland Guardians batter Myles Straw walked up to the plate during the bottom of the third inning. The reason? Straw changed up his walk-up song to the 1992 country hit “Seminole Wind” by John Anderson.
Takes a lot to make Greinke smile! pic.twitter.com/Kyw2SYwev6
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) July 26, 2023
The significance of the song goes beyond the 39-year-old simply being smitten by a ’90s country track. Straw and Greinke were teammates for two seasons on the Houston Astros. During that time, the veteran right-hander played “Seminole Wind” as his warm-up song.
Astros fans grew very familiar with their former pitcher’s song choice. The team even used it in Greinke’s tribute video when he first returned to Minute Maid Park in 2022 as a member of the Royals.
Zack Greinke tribute video capped by John Anderson’s “Seminole Wind, which was his warmup song. pic.twitter.com/Uvjsp1nFW0
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) July 6, 2022
“[Straw] loves that intro,” Greinke told Royals beat writer Anne Rogers after Tuesday’s game. “They liked it when I was in Houston. He talks about it a lot with me. So he finally did it, I guess.”
The song didn’t help Straw at the plate. The Guardians outfielder flew out to center field during the at-bat.
However, perhaps the moment loosened up Greinke just enough to get him out of his groove. The Royals pitcher had sat down all eight batters in order up to that point. Then he gave up a home run to the next batter after Straw, Guardians rookie Bo Naylor, who clobbered a middle-middle fastball to deep right center field.
Greinke would go on to give up three more earned runs, including another home run to Naylor, in the 5-1 loss.
“I thought I would get a smile out of him, and that’s about what it was,” Straw said of the moment. “Maybe a little bit more than I thought. Pretty cool to see that. He’s one of the best. Hall of Famer. Great person. I’m glad I got a smile out of him.”
It all started with the smile, and it went downhill from there for Greinke. The loss gave him 11 on the season, tied for second-most in the majors.
